Bengaluru: Karnataka’s ruling BJP is heading for a sweep in bypolls it needed to win to retain power in the state. The party is leading in 12 of 15 seats, in a big boost for Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s four-month-old government, formed after defections from the previous Congress-Janata Dal Secular coalition. Conceding defeat, the Congress said voters had “accepted defectors”. Bypolls were held on Thursday for 15 of 17 assembly seats left vacant by MLAs who resigned in July, causing the collapse of the Congress-JDS coalition. The BJP has to win at least seven seats for a majority in the assembly, which will have 222 members after the bypolls. Two seats are still vacant. The BJP currently has 105 MLAs and the support of one independent candidate, while the Congress has 66 and the JDS 34.
“We have to agree with the mandate of the voters of these 15 constituencies. People have accepted the defectors. We have accepted defeat. I don’t think we have to be disheartened,” Karnataka Congress leader DK Shivakumar said.
BS Yediyurappa was seen celebrating with his son BY Vijayendra as the BJP galloped ahead within an hour of counting, establishing a lead in about a dozen seats.
“The people of Karnataka have ensured that the Congress or the JDS will not be able betray them. It’s a message for all states that the public will punish those who go against the popular mandate,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a rally in Jharkhand on Monday.
Twelve of the 15 seats were previously held by the Congress and the remaining three by the JDS.
The election saw former allies Congress and JDS contest separately. Relations between the two, never smooth, broke down after their coalition crashed.
The BJP fielded 13 of the MLAs who quit, with the Chief Minister describing them as “future ministers”. Chief Minister Yediyurappa’s next challenge is to keep his pre-poll promise he will need to accommodate MLAs who won their seats after quitting the Congress-JDS. Many party workers and leaders were unhappy at the decision to field the rebels. Some joined other parties and the son of a sitting BJP MP contested as an independent.
