Major power shift in Kittur Karnataka, Congress wins 33 seats out of 50

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], May 13 : As the Karnataka Assembly election results were announced on Saturday, a major power shift was witnessed in the Kittur Karnataka region with Congress securing 33 out of 50 seats.
Congress won an emphatic victory in Karnataka polls on Saturday, pushing BJP out of power in the only southern state it ruled, and boosting its prospects for the electoral battles ahead including the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Congress candidate Babasaheb Patil took over Doddagoudar Mahantesh Basavantaray of BJP with a margin of 2,993 votes in Kittur.
The name "Kittur" is after a historical taluk in Belagavi district that was ruled by Rani Chennamma (17781829), who had fought against the British before Jhansi Rani Laxmibai did.
Meanwhile, Congress retained the Kalyan Karnataka region by securing 26 out of 41 seats.
The B S Yediyurappa government in 2019 had renamed Hyderabad-Karnataka region that was previously ruled by Nizams of Hyderabad as "Kalyana-Karnataka".
In Bellary City, Nara Bharath Reddy beat Gali Lakshmi Aruna with a margin of 37,863 votes while in Vijayanagara, HR Gaviyappa won with a margin of 33,723 votes, beating BJP's Siddharth Singh A Thakur.
The Lingayat belt of Kittur Karnataka and Kalyana Karnataka regions voting for the Congress this time shows the impact of BJP's decision of denying tickets to two Lingayat leaders- Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi who ended up defecting to Congress.
Several leaders defected from their respective parties ahead of the Karnataka Assembly polls over 'ticket denial' and jumped to the other side on the perception of a big win. However, some faced defeat while others turned the tide in their favour.
Among the prominent turncoats are Bharatiya Janata Party's six-time MLA Jagadish Shettar, former Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi and HD Thammaiah who after being declined tickets by the party joined Congress while BJP's MLA MP Kumaraswamy after leaving BJP joined JD(S).
Though Congress made major gains, Shettar lost to BJP's Mahesh Tenginkai in the Hubli-Dharwad-Central constituency, by a margin of 34,289 votes, as per the latest reports.
Meanwhile, HD Thammaiah won against BJP's national general secretary CT Ravi by 5926 votes in the Chikmagalur constituency. Thammaiah was one of Ravi's close aides before he joined Congress.
Laxman Savadi defeated BJP's Mahesh Kumathalli by a margin of 76,122 votes in the Athani seat. Mahesh Kumathalli was one of the Congress MLAs who crossed over to the BJP and resulting in the fall of the Congress-JDS government in 2019.
With the counting of votes for the Karnataka assembly elections concluded on Saturday, Congress got a thumping majority by winning 136 seats.
According to the Election Commission of India, Congress won 136 seats pushing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) out of power in the only southern state it ruled, and boosting its own prospects for the electoral battles ahead.
BJP managed to win 65 seats. Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) bagged 19 seats. Independents have won two seats while Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha and Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha won one seat each.
The Congress maintained a lead from the morning when counting began for the assembly seats in the fiercely contested election.
Notably, Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar defeated JDS candidate B Nagaraju in the Kanakapura constituency by 1,22,392 votes.
Former deputy chief minister and Congress leader G Parameshwara defeated JDS PR Sudhakar Lal by 14,347 votes. Congress' HD Thammaiah defeated BJP's CT Ravi in Chikmagalur, by a margin of 5,926 votes.
An incumbent government has not returned to power in Karnataka after a full term of five years since 1985.
In the 2018 assembly polls, BJP emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats, Congress won 80 seats and JD(S) got 37 seats.
The Congress victory has come at a time when it is seeking momentum ahead of assembly polls later this year in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana and the Lok Sabha polls next year.
Notably, the border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka dates back to the implementation of the State Reorganization Act, of 1956. The then Maharashtra government had demanded the readjustment of its border with Karnataka.
Following this, a four-member committee was formed by both states. The Maharashtra government had expressed willingness to transfer 260 predominantly Kannada-speaking villages, but the proposal was turned down by Karnataka. Both governments later approached the Supreme Court to expedite the matter.