Elections 2019: BJP In Early Celebratory Mode In Karnataka, Coast Turning Saffron Again

Even as the state government is on tenterhooks waiting for the Lok Sabha results and its bearing on the JDS-Congress coalition in the state, workers of the Bbharatiya Janata Party are already in a celebratory mode. Hardly an hour into the counting, the party is projected to be leading in 22 seats, while the Congress has taken a lead in 3 seats while the JD(S) is projected to leading in 2 seats.

According to Public TV, Hassan though is being securely held by the former PM H D Devegowda’s grandson Prajwal Revanna. Hassan was won by the grand old man of the JDS by a margin of 1,00,462 votes in 2014. He vacated the seat to make way for H D Revanna’s son, and is now contesting from Tumkur, where, at this hour, he is said to be trailing by around 1,400 votes. Prajwal Revanna is leading by around 43,000 votes at this hour, according to Public TV.

Former CM Siddaramaiah’s stronghold, Mysore, too seems to have favoured the BJP as MP Pratap Simha is projected to be leading by 12,000 votes at this hour.

The coast that also saw a saffron sweep in the state elections is almost seeing a repeat, as both the BJP candidates and incumbent MPs from Udupi and Dakshina Kannada are leading by massive margins. Shobha Karandlaje is projected to be leading by 18,000 votes, while Nalin Kumar Kateel is leading by 38,000 votes.

In Mandya, where Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s son, Nikhil Kumaraswamy, is contesting , the fight is neck to neck with the two main contenders but the the other three Sumalatha’s who had been propped up to confuse the voters have not even managed to get even 500 votes together.

BJP’s youngest MP candidate, Tejasvi Surya, is also projected to be leading in the first round of counting. According to Kannada News 18, Surya is leading by 2,649 votes.