Despite being a cadre-based party which has developed a strong base in the last three decades in Dharwad district, the Bharatiya Janata Party has lost its vote share in the recent Assembly elections, while the Congress has increased it considerably.
In the Kittur Karnataka and Central Karnataka regions especially, the Congress bagged a vote share of 44.9% which is an increase of 6.2% when compared to the 2018 Assembly elections. And, the BJP’s vote share decreased to 39% in this election.
A similar trend was witnessed as far as the vote share of the BJP and the Congress in Dharwad district is concerned. The BJP bagged five of the seven seats in the district in 2018 and this time, it won only three.
After a comparatively good performance in 2013, the Congress suffered a set-back in 2018. But in the 2023 elections it has regained lost ground by winning four seats out of the seven.
In 2018, the Congress bagged a vote share of 39.58% and it has increased to 45.47% in this election, an increase of 5.87% in the district. The BJP, on the other hand, recorded 49.65% vote share in 2018 and now, it has fallen to 47.14%, a decrease of 2.57%.
Still ahead
Although the BJP’s vote share has fallen in this election, the saffron party is still ahead of Congress as far as vote share is concerned.
The Congress has secured 44.9% vote share now against the 47.14% of BJP.
In all, 11,18,750 (73.45%) out of the total 15,23,089 voters exercised their franchise this time. While the seven Congress candidates in the district together polled 5,10,857 votes, the BJP candidates polled 5,32,217 votes.
Although the BJP lost two seats in this election, the reason for the bigger vote share of the BJP is attributed to the huge margin with which it won the three seats.
Member of Legislative Assembly Arvind Bellad retained his seat in Hubballi Dharwad West by a big margin of 38,129 votes.
BJP’s State general secretary Mahesh Tenginakai, who was pitted against the former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, won the Hubballi Dharwad Central seat by a margin of 34,053 votes, which is a record of sorts in the constituency in the last three decades.
In Kundgol, the BJP’s M.R. Patil won by a margin of 35,230 votes, a margin which nobody expected.
Among the Congress candidates [MLA] Prasad Abbayya recorded a win with a huge margin of 32,303 votes. Among the other three seats, the Congress had a victory margin of over 10,000 in two constituencies and over 20,000 in one.
In Kalghtagi, the former Minister Santosh Lad won by a margin of 14,357 votes, the former MLA N.H. Konaraddi won in Navalgund by a margin of 22,166 votes and the former Minister Vinay Kulkarni won in Dharwad by a margin of 18,660 votes.
While the Congress is upbeat over having increased its vote share by close to six per cent, it is to be seen whether it will further build upon it in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
