HDK wins from Mandya with a thumping margin

H.D. Kumaraswamy wins Mandya Parliamentary seat with a wide margin, securing victory in prestigious battle for Vokkaliga leadership.

Janata Dal (Secular) president and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy raced to the finish with a wide margin in Mandya and was declared elected in the prestigious battle for Mandya Parliamentary seat the results of which were announced on Tuesday.

Mr. Kumaraswamy polled 8,51881 votes over his nearest rival Venkataramane Gowda (“Star” Chandru) of the Congress who could muster 5,67,261 votes in the battle for the Vokkaliga heartland, the margin of victory being 2,84,620 votes. There were 17,79,243 electors in the constituency of whom 14,52,531 voters had exercised their franchise.

The JD(S) is an alliance with the BJP which lacks a significant presence and the constituency was represented by Sumalatha Ambareesh who had won as an independent in the 2019 Parliamentary elections. But she had shown an inclination to join the BJP which persuaded her to refrain from seeking re-election and the latter not only agreed to do so but joined the BJP officially which prevented the three-way split of the votes in the constituency.

Mr. Kumaraswamy established an early lead and polled 43,141 votes after the first round of counting against 25,166 votes secured by Star Chandru. Mr. Kumaraswamy never appeared to trail and maintained the lead in subsequent rounds as well though the margin varied. After the end of the 4th round Mr. Kumaraswamy had mustered 1,81,799 votes while Stara Chandru could secure 107,480 votes.

But after the end of the 8th round of counting the margin had widened further and Mr. Kumaraswamy was sitting pretty at 3,72,848 votes for him while Mr. Star Chandru had 2,27,809. The margin did not reduce in the subsequent rounds and after 18 rounds Mr. Kumaraswamy had polled 8,21,172 votes against 5,46,020 votes garnered by Star Chandru. At the end of the 20th round of counting Mr. Kumaraswamy romped home with 8,51,881 votes against 5,67,261 votes secured by the Congress candidate.

Though the electoral face-off was between Mr. Kumaraswamy and Mr. Venkataramane Gowda, it was also reckoned to be a fight for the Vokkaliga leadership in the agrarian district involving Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar of the Congress who is positioning himself as a prominent leader of the community.

Though there were 15 candidates in the fray battle ground Mandya is perceived to be a direct contest between the NDA represented by its partner in alliance with the JD(S) and the Congress in the absence of any “notable other”.After 20 rounds of counting, NOTA was opted by 7706 voters and was trailing behind only Chandan Gowda K., an independent who secured 12310 votes.