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Karnataka election result: Congress president’s son Priyank Kharge retains Chittapur seat for third time
Priyank Kharge and the Bharatiya Janata Party's Manikanta Rathod are the two main contenders in Chittapur.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge's son Priyank retained his Chittapur seat for the third time, the data showed amid as the counting of votes for the Karnataka Assembly election of 2023 is underway. Kharge defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party's Manikanta Rathod by over 13,000 votes. In the final results, Kharge managed nearly 53 per cent of the votes and his BJP rival secured approximately 44 per cent. (Track LIVE Karnataka election updates here.)
Also in the fray in Chittapur was Subhaschandra Rathod of the Janata Dal (Secular) who managed less than 1,000 votes.
Also Read| Karnataka assembly election 2023: Constituency-wise full list of winning candidates from BJP, Cong, JDS
Overall, the Congress has marched past the halfway mark in the 224-member Assembly and images and party workers celebrating at various offices across the country have gone viral.
The Congress needs 113 seats to claim a majority and form the next government. It has won four seats so far.
Trends so far have surpasssed exit polls that predicted a tight race between the Congress and the BJP. A win for the former party would be a morale-booster after defeats in Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland this year. For the BJP it is a potentially big setback ahead of polls in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh later this year and, of course, the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
