The Congress government led by Siddaramiah in Karnataka got a fillip on Saturday after the ruling party wrested the Chennapatna and Shiggaon seats from NDA partners – BJP and JDS while retaining Sandur in the Assembly bypolls. In spite of having a comfortable majority, with Congress having won 136 seats of the 224-member Assembly during the May 2023 state-wide polls, the State government had been on the back foot due to corruption allegations and the NDA having won 18 of the 28 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Chief Minister Siddaramiah’s leadership came under fire after the ‘MUDA scandal’, in which the opposition alleged that plots were illegally allotted to the CM’s family members. The results are seen as a vindication for the CM who was under pressure from the opposition as well as a section of his party.

The bypolls were necessitated after former CMs Basvraj Bommai of the BJP and H D Kumaraswamy resigned from their Assembly seats after winning the Lok Sabha polls. Similarly, E Tukaram of the Congress had also quit his Sandur seat after winning the Bellary parliamentary seat. In the fiercely-contested bypolls for which voting took place on November 13, Congress has wrested both seats held by the NDA partners while retaining its Sandur seat.

Speaking to media after the results CM Siddaramiah said, “People of Karnataka have responded to the false allegations against me and the Congress party. They have rejected communal politics of the NDA.” Political analyst Manjunath said the results were a setback to the opposition in the State. “In both Chennapatna and Shiggaon, JDS and BJP fielded the sons of former CMs. Both seats were considered to be family bastions and yet they lost. This will boost the Congress government ahead of the winter session of assembly which starts on 9 December. Son rise for the moment has been halted,” he added.

BJP State president B Y Vijayendra said “traditionally the ruling party has an advantage in bypolls. But in spite of that we are surprised by the results. We will analyse the reasons for the setback.”

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