B’luru South: Tejasvi retains seat, despite controversial first term

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: There was a heartbreak in store for Congress candidate for Bangalore South constituency Sowmya Reddy after counting of votes was taken up at SSMRV PU College in Jayanagar with sitting BJP MP and party youth wing chief Tejaswi Surya scoring a huge win over her.

Sowmya had earlier suffered a narrow defeat in the Assembly elections last year while Surya is on his way to his second term in parliament polling 7.5 lakh votes, the highest in the constituency’s history.

Surya was first elected to the Lok Sabha in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, defeating veteran Congressman B K Hariprasad by a margin of 3.3 lakh votes. The constituency was earlier represented by former Union minister and BJP heavyweight late Ananth Kumar.

Trends after the initial counting saw the gap continually widening between Surya and Reddy and it soon became apparent that the former would retain his seat.

Sowmya, daughter of Karnataka Minister and veteran Congressman Ramalinga Reddy will now have to wait for another electoral battle with her second defeat in two years, despite valiant efforts.

She polled 4.7 lakh votes, the highest by a Congress candidate in this constituency. It initially looked like a tough fight according to a few experts, as Reddy’s popularity amongst the poor and middle class was more than evident.

Her work during the Covid pandemic had earned her a place in the good books of people of the constituency. However, breaking into the BJP stronghold has never been easy.

The last Congress candidate to win this constituency was former Chief Minister R Gundu Rao way back in 1991. The five guarantees implemented by the Congress in the state was what Reddy was banking on.

She had expected a lot of women voters, who had benefited from the ‘Shakti free travel scheme’ to help her and the Grand Old Party. The constituency, where a lot of Brahmins reside, was a natural seat for Surya who’s also a Brahmin.

The BJP’s bugle call of ‘Modi Once More’ also seems to have worked for the young MP. His victory came despite outrage over unfinished development works and allegations of not paying depositors of the Raghavendra Co-Operative Bank.

 As per assembly segment wise voter numbers released by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Sowmya led in Chickpet and Jayanagar segments, both having BJP MLAs.

What would have hurt the 41 year old candidate is her opponent bagging more votes in her father’s constituency, BTM Layout. Govindraj Nagar and Vijayanagar, both with Congress MLAs, secured more votes for Surya.