Kumaraswamy with Rahul Gandhi - File Pic
In a blow to the BJP, the ruling Congress-JD(S) alliance looks set to win 4 out of 5 seats that went to bypolls on Saturday. The BJP could manage to win only Shimoga Lok Sabha seat. Out of the three Lok Sabha seats that went to bypolls, the Congress-JD(S) alliance won Bellary and Mandya seats while the BJP retained Shimoga.
The ruling alliance won both Ramanagara and Jamkhandi assembly seats that went to bypolls.
Karnataka by-polls counting of votes: Highlights
Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy's wife Anitha won the Ramanagara assembly seat on the JD-S ticket by a huge margin of 1,09,137 votes.
Congress candidate V S Ugrappa won Ballari Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 2,43,161 votes.
BJP's BY Raghavendra won Shimoga parliamentary seat with a margin of 52148 votes.
The Shimoga seat was vacated by Yeddyurappa on his election to the assembly seat in the June elections. In the Ramanagara assembly, the 55-year-old Anitha Kumaraswamy defeated BJP's L. Chandrashekar, who had quit the BJP to rejoin the Congress ahead of the November 3 bypolls.
His nomination, however, remained since the final date of withdrawal had passed.
In the Jamkhandi assembly seat, Congress candidate Anand Siddu Nyamagouda from defeated BJP's Shrikant Kulkarni by 39,480 votes.
Workers and supporters of the ruling alliance -- JD-S and Congress -- who contested the bye-elections together, broke into celebrations across the party's offices in Ramanagara and Jamkhandi district, as well as in Bengaluru.
Around 66 per cent of the 54.5 lakh electorate voted in the five bypolls on Saturday.
The by-election to the Jamkhandi assembly seat was caused by the death of Congress MLA Siddu Nyamagouda. The Ramanagara seat fell vacant after Kumaraswamy gave up the seat, preferring Chennapatna, the other constituency from where he had won.
The by-elections are being seen as a popularity test of the Congress-JD(S) coalition, cobbled together after the May assembly polls that threw up a fractured verdict.
The BJP and the Congress-JD(S) combine launched an all out offensive to break into each other's bastions to gain advantage before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Elated by win, Congress-JD(S) say will contest 2019 together
Buoyed by the victory in the bypolls, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and Congress state president Dinesh Gundu Rao asserted that they would contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections together against the BJP. The two leaders gave credit for the electoral success to the policies of the Congress-JD(S) coalition.
Speaking to reporters, Kumaraswamy hailed the people for their support to the coalition government of the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Congress and said the two parties would contest the 2019 polls together in all the 28 constituencies in the state.
"We will contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections together. As we did this time, we will sit together to chalk out strategies to fight the Lok Sabha election in a coordinated manner," Kumaraswamy said.
"We took many pro-people measures which are at the stage of implementation. The benefits have not reached them yet," the chief minister said.
WATCH: Blow for BJP in Karnataka by-polls
(With inputs from agencies)
