K’taka BJP wrests Bluru and Siraassembly seats from Cong and JD(S) (roundup)

Bengaluru, Nov 10 : The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has wrested both Rajarajeshwari Nagar (RR Nagar) and Sira assembly constituencies in Karnataka taking the party’s tally in Assembly to 119 on Tuesday.
RR Nagar and Sira were won by Congress and Janata Dal (S) respectively in the 2018 Assembly polls. In RR Nagar, Munirathna had defected to the BJP in mid 2019 thereby causing vacancy while JD(S) legislator B. Sathyanarayana succumbed to prolonged illness in August this year, hence elections were announced here.
The BJP secured around 13,000 votes more than the Congress in Sira and romped home in RR Nagar with over 57,000 votes more than its nearest rival H. Kusuma, widow of IAS office D. K. Ravi.
Munirathna was one of 17 Congress and JDS MLAs whose resignations triggered the dramatic fall of the 14-month-old coalition government led by H. D. Kumaraswamy.
In both constituencies, former Congressmen have delivered victory to BJP. The BJP’s gambit to field Rajesh C. M. Gowda paid rich dividend in Sira as the party registered its maiden victory here.
The BJP’s previous highest return for this seat was only 24,000, while Gowda’s entry in BJP has yielded 74000 votes this time. This is the third seat in Vokkaliga heartland that the BJP has won in by-polls, following victories in K.R. Pet and Chikkaballapura in December 2019.