Karnataka Bypolls: BJP Wins Sindagi, While Congress Wrests CM Bommai's Home Turf Hangal

"The tears of B S Yediyurappa will drown the BJP in Hangal I had told back then and I stand by my words today," said KPCC President D K Shivakumar, addressing media as the by-poll results showed a lead for the Congress in Haveri district's Hangal constituency.

While the final numbers are yet to be announced at the time of writing, as far as the leads go, the two constituencies that went to bypolls on 30 October have seen the two national parties take one seat each.

The supporters of both BJP and the Congress began celebrations in Sindagi and Hangal respectively, and the top leaders of the Congress have begun to accord the defeat of the BJP in Hangal as a precursor to what is to follow in the 2023 elections in the state.

"People gave them an opportunity but the time is up and the next government will be of the people of Karnataka," said Shivakumar, tactfully avoiding questions about the defeat being a failure of the present Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.

"It is a defeat of the entire BJP; why accord it to just one leader," he remarked, 'saluting' the voters who 'resented all the tactics' of the BJP and voted the Congress to power.

"One was a BJP seat and one was a JD(S) seat. The JD(S) seat has been snatched by the BJP, while the Congress took the BJP seat away from them. But these results are a message to the nation about the people's lack of faith in the BJP," said Shivakumar.

In the fourteenth round of counting around 12.45pm in Hangal, while Congress was leading with around 6,800 votes at 64,489, the JD(S) had managed to secure a total of 692 and the BJP stood at 57,682.

In Sindagi, the BJP began its celebrations quite early as it enjoyed a lead post the twelfth round. The seat gains prominence as it was the only one in the district to elect a JD(S) candidate while all others went to the BJP's kitty.

The bypolls were necessitated by the demise of Mallappa Managuli who had won the seat on a JD(S) ticket in 2018, a seat he lost in the previous two elections to Bhusanur.

Managuli's son Ashok Managuli jumped fences two months's after his father's demise and contested on a Congress ticket. The BJP managed to wrestle back the seat with a considerable margin as their candidate Ramesh Bhusanur won 93,380 votes, while Congress candidate Managuli won 62,292 votes.

"We will take our loss as seriously as our victory and work towards converting the loss into a victory in the coming elections," said CM Bommai. While opposition leader Siddharamaiah said the election results are as expected and it shows 'people are expecting change'.

"We will discuss about our loss in Sindagi by a large margin within the party. But the party has managed to rise from the third position to being a runner-up," said Siddharamaiah.

Mane Shrinivas was seen working on the ground during both the waves of the pandemic in Hangal that went to bypolls owing to the death of JD(S) CM Udasi.