Proper planning, excellent choice of candidate, hard work by party leaders and workers helped the Congress to cruise to victory in the prestigious byelection to the Lok Sabha from Udupi-Chikmagalur constituency.
The victory is significant because Janata Dal (Secular) fielded a candidate and the seat was vacated by none other than Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda. In spite of JD(S), Congress candidate K. Jayaprakash Hegde trounced V. Sunil Kumar of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by a margin of 45,724 votes. Janata Dal (S) candidate S.L. Bhoje Gowda and 11 other candidates lost their deposit.
Of the eight Assembly segments in the constituency, the Congress led in six – Udupi, Kundapur, Kaup, Sringeri, Mudigere, and Tarikere. The BJP led only in Karkala and Chikmagalur, that too narrowly. Contrast this with the 2008 Assembly elections, when the BJP had won seven of the eight Assembly segments. Never had the Congress put in as much hard work as this time when it pumped its entire might into the campaign. Senior Congress leaders, especially AICC general secretary Oscar Fernandes burnt midnight oil and worked tirelessly to ensure that the party came up trumps in the byelection.
Every senior Congress leader, including S.M. Krishna, M. Veerappa Moily, B. Janardhan Poojary, G. Parameshwara, Siddharamaiah, and Motamma, visited the constituency, participated in campaigning, took out “padayatras”, held road shows, addressed public meetings and held press conferences. In fact, the Congress beat the BJP in all aspects of electioneering, strategic planning and media management by miles. Besides, Mr. Hegde had kept in touch with the constituents even after his defeat at the hands of Mr. Sadananda Gowda by a margin of 27,018 votes in 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
This helped the Congress, besides the voters' perception of Mr. Hegde as a sincere person. The minority communities too did not want to split the secular votes as it would have helped the BJP and plumped for the Congress.
On the other hand, the BJP fumbled at the first step. The selection of Mr. Sunil Kumar was not well received by all sections of the BJP. It is a mystery as to why the BJP chose Mr. Kumar as its candidate. The BJP appears to have banked too much on the caste factor. Mr. Kumar belongs to the Ediga community.
It also thought the JD(S) presence would help it to win comfortably. The BJP's other assumption that the seat being vacated by Mr. Sadananda Gowda to become Chief Minister itself would help attract votes.
But the result shows that all these assumptions have been turned upside down by the voters.
The infighting in the BJP, “rave party” at St. Mary's Island near Udupi and porn gate did have an impact on voters. The BJP's support for “rave party” proved costly as the Congress lead over the BJP in Udupi Assembly segment alone is 11,423 votes – the highest in the entire constituency.
Though Mr. Sadananda Gowda campaigned intensely for Mr. Sunil Kumar, the enthusiasm was clearly missing among lower BJP leaders and workers.
It is difficult to say whether the result would have been any different even if former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa would have campaigned. It might have only narrowed the Congress's margin of victory.
