Karnatka Nov 6: In a big upset in Karnataka’s Ballari Lok Sabha constituency, the Congress’ VS Ugrappa beat BJP’s J Shantha on Tuesday by 2,41,656 votes in the crucial by-elections that are seen to test the strength of the state’s ruling alliance. The Congress-JDS have been in power since May, when they joined hands to form government after assembly elections.
The Ballari Lok Sabha seat has been won by the BJP for the last three elections. The by-election saw a pitched battle between Shantha and VS Ugrappa. By-election have had to be held because the BJP’s Sreeramulu gave up the seat after he won the assembly election from Molkalmuru in Chitradurga district.
Sreeramulu has much at stake in Ballari, which is reserved for the Scheduled Tribe communities. He vacated the seat as the BJP tried its best to form government after having won the highest number of seats in the May election, but was bested by the Congress and JDS, who swiftly formed an alliance. The BJP had won 104 of the state’s 224 seats, the Congress 80 and the JDS 37.
For the by-election, the BJP fielded Sreeramulu’s sister Shantha, who is a former MP, and she was up against member of the legislative council Ugrappa, who was backed by the JD(S). The names of these two candidates appeared on the electronic voting machines but they have been proxies for the battles fought by other leaders.
Sreeramulu, on the one hand, has battled the Congress’ DK Shivakumar — who has been given charge of winning the seat — and on the other, mining baron G Janardhan Reddy has fought an ugly battle with his bete noire, former chief minister Siddaramaiah.
The BJP banked on its local leaders to do the job and pointed to the fact that Ugrappa is an outsider to the district. The Congress-JD(S) alliance pulled out all stops and one-time bitter rivals Siddaramaiah and his mentor, the former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, united to try and prove that a broad coalition could defeat the BJP ahead of the 2019 elections.
The Congress had won six of the nine assembly seats in the district in the assembly elections and seemed to be pulling through thanks to this. Ballari recorded a turnout of 63.85% in the election held on Saturday, down from 70.29% in 2014. There are 17.13 lakh voters in the Lok Sabha constituency.
The ruling Congress-JD(S) are ahead of the BJP in four out of five seats in early trends as votes are counted in a Karnataka by-election billed as a semi-final before Lok Sabha polls next year. The by-elections to three Lok Sabha and two assembly seats are seen as a crucial test for the ruling alliance, forged after state elections in May this year to keep out single largest party BJP.
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