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Touted ‘kingmaker’, Kumaraswamy in tight race against BJP's Yogeshwara in Channapatna
The former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy was leading in Channapatna seat with 34,322 votes after trailing in the initial hours of counting.
Pegged as the ‘kingmaker’ after the exit polls predicted a hung assembly in the Karnataka assembly elections, Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy maintained a slim lead over BJP’s CP Yogeshwara in the Channapatna seat. The former Karnataka chief minister took over the lead with 34,322 votes after trailing in the initial hours of counting. Polling 30,712 votes, Yogeshwara is a close second. Congress has fielded Gangadhar S from the constituency located in Karnataka’s Ramanagara district.
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The constituency has been a bastion of Yogeshwara since he first fought the polls in 1999 as an Independent candidate and subsequently winning as a Congress candidate in the 2004 and 2008 elections.
After switching to the BJP in 2008, he lost the by-election in 2009 against JD (S) candidate Ashwath MC. He later won the seat in the 2011 bypoll representing BJP. Kumaraswamy beat him in the 2018 assembly elections with a margin of over 20,000 votes.
Read: Karnataka election result: 'Defeat not final...': HD Kumaraswamy defiant after Congress wins
While contesting from Ramanagara and Channapatna in old Mysuru region in 2018, Kumaraswamy beat Yogeshwara with a margin of over 20,000 votes. Kumaraswamy later vacated Ramanagara seat for his wife Anita Kumaraswamy. This year, Kumaraswamy was contesting only from Channapatna while his son and grandson of former PM Devegowda, Nikhil Kumaraswamy, was fielded from Ramanagara. His wife did not contest in the 2023 state assembly elections.
A day after Kumaraswamy’s statements on the JD(S) being open to a post-poll alliance with either the Congress or the ruling BJP in case of a cliffhanger were rejected by both the national parties, the two-time former MLA on Saturday said that his was a small party which had ‘no demand’.
Kumaraswamy said, “Exit polls show that the two national parties will score in a big way. The exit polls have given 30-32 seats to JD(S). I am a small party, there is no demand for me...I am hoping for a good development.”
