Thaindian News

Bangalore, Aug 21 (IANS) The Congress suffered a huge blow in Karnataka Friday with union Labour and Employment Minister Mallikarjun Kharge’s son Priyank losing to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) candidate in the assembly by-polls held Aug 18.
Priyank, contesting an election for the first time, lost to BJP’s Valmiki Nayak by 1,606 votes in Chittapur (Scheduled Caste) constituency in Gulbarga, north Karnataka, the state election authorities announced Friday.

Chittapur was among the five constituencies where bypolls were held Tuesday.

Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) candidates won in Ramanagara, about 50 km from here, and neighbouring Channapatna. The JD-S re-established its supremacy in its strongholds.

In the two constituencies where counting is on BJP was leading in Kollegal, about 120 km from here and the Congress in Govindrajnagar in western Bangalore where the ruling party has filed Religious Endowment Ninister V. Somanna.

Sommanna had quit the Congress and the assembly to join the BJP ahead of the April-May Lok Sabha polls and was rewarded with the minister’s post.

In Ramanagara, K. Raju of the JD-S defeated C.M. Lingappa of the Congress by 22,019 votes while in Channapatna M.C. Ashwath beat C.P. Yogeshwar of the BJP by 2,282 votes.

Yogeshwar had won the seat in May 2008 assembly polls on a Congress ticket. He crossed over to the BJP and contested the April-May Lok Sabha from Ramangara seat but lost to H.D. Kumaraswamy of the JD-S.