The ruling Congress has won both Mandya and Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha seats with impressing margins, making inroads into Janata Dal (Secular) strongholds.
The Lok Sabha byelections held on August 21 were fiercely fought by both the Congress and the JD (S), the latter supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party. Both the seats were earlier held in JD (S).
The results announced on Saturday had Congress candidate, actress-turned-politician Ramya (Divya Spandana) in Mandya, winning by a margin of 67,611 votes, in her debut election. D.K. Suresh from Bangalore Rural won by a margin of 1.37 lakh votes against Anita Kumaraswamy of JD (S), wife of former chief minister and party state president H.D. Kumaraswamy.
The bypolls to Mandya and Bangalore Rural were necessitated following the resignation of N. Cheluvarayaswamy and Mr. Kumaraswamy of the JD (S), who contested in the Assembly polls and won.
Though the term for the new MPs is short, the polls were seen as a matter of prestige for both the ruling Congress and the JD (S) and an indicator for the coming Lok Sabha polls. The run-up to the polls saw high-decibel campaigns, often crossing the limits of public decency.
