Congress storms to double victory in Karnataka bypolls

The ruling Congress scored a resounding political victory in the Karnataka Assembly bypolls on Monday, retaining Bagalkot with a record-breaking margin and wresting Davanagere South after a dramatic turnaround, dealing a significant setback to the BJP in two prestige battles.

- STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE

The bypolls, triggered by the deaths of senior Congress legislators H Y Meti in Bagalkot and Shamanur Shivashankarappa in Davanagere South, were widely viewed as a crucial test of political strength for both the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government and the opposition BJP.

In Bagalkot, Congress candidate and political debutant Umesh Meti delivered a crushing defeat to BJP heavyweight and three-time MLA Veerabhadrayya Charantimath, winning by amassive margin of 21,866 votes and comfortably retaining his father’s seat for the party.

According to official results declared after all 23 rounds of counting, Umesh Meti secured 97,941 votes against Charantimath’s 76,075. The victory margin is being regarded as the highest recorded in the constituency in recent decades.