JD(S) Member of Parliament Prajwal Revanna, facing charges of rape and sexual abuse of many women, is trailing in Hassan Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka. After 17 rounds of counting, Congress candidate Shreyas M. Patel is leading by over 42,000 votes.
If Patel wins the seat, the Congress would have got the constituency after a gap of 25 years. In 1999, Shreyas Patel’s grandfather G. Puttaswamy Gowda had defeated former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda. Both families have been political rivals for five decades.
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Prajwal Revanna, who is in the custody of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in Bengaluru, contested from the Hassan seat for the first time in 2019 as his grandfather H.D. Deve Gowda, who represented the seat, shifted to Tumakuru. He won by a margin of 1.41 lakh votes against BJP candidate A. Manju. At that time, the JD(S) had an alliance with the Congress.
This time, the JD(S) entered into an alliance with the BJP.
A section of BJP leaders, including former Hassan MLA Preetham Gowda, was against nominating Prajwal Revanna as the NDA candidate. Many supporters of Preetham Gowda were seen openly campaigning for the Congress candidate.
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Prajwal Revanna faced anti-incumbency as people in many places alleged that he hardly listened to their problems. His grandfather H.D. Deve Gowda campaigned for him extensively. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also sought votes for him during a rally in Mysuru.
Four days before polling, videos and photos containing obscene content, purportedly related to Prajwal Revanna, went viral in Hassan. A day after polling, Prajwal Revanna left the country.
Following allegations of sexual abuse, the government of Karnataka set up a SIT to probe the charges. Prajwal Revanna was arrested by the SIT police on May 31 on his return to India.
Shreyas Patel (3rd from left), Congress candidate in Hassan Lok Sabha seat, reaches the counting centre in Hassan flanked by former minister B. Shivaramu and ex-MLC Gopalaswamy. | Photo Credit: Prakash Hassan
Published - June 04, 2024 12:23 pm IST
