In a major set-back, the Opposition BJP lost all the three seats it held in the Legislative Council from the Hyderabad Karnataka region to its main rival, the Congress, in the elections to the Legislative Council from the local bodies on Wednesday.
In a shock defeat, the BJP lost the Bidar, Raichur-Koppal and Ballari seats to the Congress and the only consolation for the party was the win in the Kalaburagi-Yadgir seat.
Incidentally, in the previous elections, the Congress had managed to win only one seat and the BJP had won three seats.
The verdict has come as a shot in the arm for the Congress and it should augur well for the party to prepare itself for the much bigger test in the ensuing zilla and taluk panchayat elections.
In a prestigious contest, the former MP and legislator K.C. Kondaiah defeated the BJP nominee Channa Basavanagouda by a margin of 1,598 votes in a one-sided contest. While Mr. Kondaiah polled 3,098 votes, the BJP nominee received 1,500 votes.
The seat was held by Mrutunjaya Jinaga of the BJP who had won the seat in the previous elections by a margin of 900 votes defeating the Congress candidate Venkat Rao Ghorpade.
Similarly, the BJP suffered a humiliating defeat in the Raichur-Koppal local bodies elections losing the seat to the Congress candidate Basavaraj Patil Itagi who defeated C.V. Chandrasekhar (BJP) by a margin of 328 votes in the first round of counting. While Mr. Itagi polled 3,441 votes, the BJP nominee came close behind polling 3,113 votes. The seat was held by Halappa Achar of the BJP.
The Congress victory in Bidar was the most convincing and Vijay Singh, son of the former Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh, silenced all his critics that he was an outsider by scoring a convincing victory over Sanjay Kheny, a recent convert to the BJP from the Congress. While Mr. Vijay Singh polled 2,329 votes, the BJP nominee could manage 959 votes.
However, the defeat of Congress MLC Allamprabhu Patil in the Kalaburagi-Yadgir local bodies constituency came as a body blow to the party which was celebrating its success elsewhere. Although the Congress enjoyed a sizeable majority in Kalaburagi-Yadgir, the party suffered an unexpected defeat at the hands of industrialist B.G. Patil nominated by the BJP. Mr. B.G. Patil, who twice unsuccessfully contested in the Assembly elections in the past, was, however, lucky the third time winning the elections to the Upper House by a huge margin of 804 votes. All the four candidates registered their wins in the first round of counting getting the required 50 per cent and one vote to emerge winners.
