Even though Congress candidate C.H. Vijayashankar lost the Lok Sabha polls from Mysuru constituency to his BJP opponent Pratap Simha by over 1.38 lakh votes, the assembly segments of Narasimharaja, Periyapatna and Hunsur appear to have backed the Congress more than BJP.
An Assembly segment-wise analysis of votes polled on April 18 showed that Narasimharaja, represented by the Congress in the Assembly and Periyapatna and Hunsur, both represented by the JD(S) in the Assembly had secured more votes for the coalition candidate C.H. Vijayshankar than BJP.
Even though Chamundeshwari Assembly segment is represented by JD(S) leader and Minister for Higher Education G.T. Deve Gowda in the Assembly, the BJP managed to poll more votes than Congress in the constituency.
The remaining four segments – Virajpet and Madikeri in Kodagu and Krishnaraja and Chamaraja in Mysuru – are represented by the BJP in the Assembly and all the four constituencies have given the BJP candidate a good lead that more than covered up the setback to the party in Narasimharaja, Periyapatna and Hunsur constituencies.
Out of the eight Assembly constituencies in Mysuru Lok Sabha segment, the BJP managed to secure a lead in five and trailed in three.
Even though the Congress polled more than BJP in Hunsur, the Assembly segment represented by former Minister A.H. Vishwanath of the JD(S), the margin of lead was a meagre 3,798. The lead in Periyapatna represented by JD(S) MLA K. Mahadev was 23,777, but Narasimharaja Assembly segment in Mysuru represented by former Minister Tanveer Sait of Congress gave the Congress candidate a decent lead of 41,979.
However, Mr. Simha, who romped home to victory, secured a lead of 43,976 votes in Madikeri Assembly segment represented by BJP’s Appachu Ranjan, 41,497 votes in Virajpet segment represented by BJP’s K.G. Bopaiah, 52,074 votes in Krishnaraja segment represented by former Minister S.A. Ramdas of BJP, and 46,051 votes in Chamaraja segment represented by Nagendra of the BJP. But, it is the lead that the BJP managed to secure in Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency represented by JD(S) that has come under focus. Though represented by Minister in-charge of Mysuru district G.T. Deve Gowda, the BJP managed to secure a lead of 22,150 votes.
