Yediyurappa expresses joy over winning Sindgi Assembly by-poll; assures victory in 2023

After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the Sindgi Assembly seat in the by-elections on Tuesday, former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said that the party did not expect to win with such a huge number of votes. He also stated that BJP would win 140 seats in the 2023 state Assembly polls. 

Former CM Yediyurappa was quoted by ANI saying, "We have won Sindgi Assembly seat by 30,000 margins. We never expected to win with such a huge margin. Our defeat in Hangal will be discussed in the party meeting. The BJP would win 140 seats in the 2023 Assembly elections."

Karnataka Bypolls

BJP has won the Sindgi assembly segment, but lost the Hangal seat to Congress, in the bypolls held on October 30. According to results announced by the Election Commission of India on Tuesday, Ramesh Bhusanur of BJP won in Sindgi seat by a margin of 31,185 votes, by securing 93,865 votes, while his closest rival Congress' Ashok Managuli secured 62,680 votes.       

In Hangal, Congress' Srinivas Mane won by a margin of 7,373 votes, securing 87,490 votes, while his closest rival Shivaraj Sajjanar of BJP bagged 80,117 votes. JD(S)' Naziya Shakeel Ahmed Angadi from Sindgi and Niyaz Shaikh from Hangal came a distant third, by securing 4,353 and 927 votes respectively.

The bypolls for two seats was necessitated as they had fallen vacant, following the death of Sindgi JD(S) legislator M C Managuli and BJP's C M Udasi from Hangal. The BJP losing Hangal is seen as a setback to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, as it is the neighbouring constituency to his Shiggaon assembly segment in Haveri district, and that he had extensively campaigned there. This was also the first major electoral challenge for Bommai, after taking charge as CM. Congress leaders seemed to be satisfied with the party's performance in the bypolls, as it has succeeded in snatching away Hangal seat from the BJP, while improving its performance in Sindgi, where it was in the third spot after 2018 assembly polls.

An estimated 69.47% voter turnout was recorded in Sindgi assembly constituency, while it was 83.76% in Hangal segment during the October 30 voting. A total of 19 candidates were in the fray in the two constituencies, including six from Sindgi and 13 from Hangal. Two candidates from Sindgi were women. 

(With PTI Inputs)

Image: PTI