2019 Lok Sabha Election Results for Chikkaballapur, Karnataka: BJP's BN Bache Gowda defeats two-time MP from seat Veerappa Moily

The result for this seat was much awaited as in 2014 this Congress bastion was narrowly saved from going into the kitty of the BJP. The seat had virtually been a Congress stronghold since the 1970s with the party losing the seat only once way back in 1966.

Sitting MP and former Union Minister Veerappa Moily had won the seat during the last two consecutive terms. However, in 2014, he won the seat with a 0.75 per cent margin against BJP's BN Bache Gowda.

In 2019, the battle was fought between the same two candidates from BJP and Congress. 

This time, however, Moily could not save his seat and failed to get a third consecutive term as he was defeated by BN Bache Gowda with a convincing margin. 

Gowda received 744475 votes while Moily got 563396, thereby defeating the Congress candidate by 182110 votes. 

READ | 2019 Lok Sabha Election Results LIVE Updates: Vote-counting For 2019 Indian General Elections, Trends For All 542 Constituencies And Non-stop Analysis From Republic TV And Arnab Goswami Here As India Elects A New Government

Caste politics in Chikkaballapur:

Chikkaballapur, nearly 60 km from the state capital Bengaluru, is dominated by Vokkaligas, with about 4 lakh votes.

However, Moily had said that Congress won’t play caste politics as it is a secular party. He also said that the hat-trick win of a Brahmin candidate V Krishna Rao on Congress ticket between 1984 to 1991 in a Vokkaliga-dominated parliamentary constituency indicated that caste politics does not play a role in this.

The BJP, however, feels a large chunk of the Vokkaliga "votebank" will shift to the party because of the disenchantment over the coalition pact between the Congress and the JD(S).

The constituency has about 5.75 lakh SC/ST voters, 1.2 lakh Kuruba voters and 1.5 lakh each of OBC and Balija voters. The poll issues have been related to water supply for irrigation and national security.

2019 Lok Sabha Election Results LIVE Updates: Vote-counting For 2019 Indian General Elections, Trends For All 542 Constituencies And Non-stop Analysis From Republic TV And Arnab Goswami Here As India Elects A New Government

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