As Karnataka Swings Congress Way, Bengaluru Urban Remains Divided

Bengaluru Urban, which had been the site of several roadshows by PM Modi, has voted pretty much the same as 2018.

While the Congress party has swept the Karnataka Assembly elections, Bengaluru has remained divided between the BJP and the Congress, just like it did in 2018. This, even after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held several roadshows in the region.

As of 9.30 pm on 13 May, Congress has won 134 seats so far and is leading in two more seats across Karnataka, while the BJP has won 64 and is leading in one.

Here's how Bengaluru voted for its 28 assembly constituencies.

BJP, Congress Retain Most Previous MLAs

13 BJP MLAs retained their seats in the city. They are:

1. Byrathi Basavaraj - KR Pura

2. ST Somashekar - Yeshwanthpur

3. Munirathna - Rajarajeshwari Nagar

4. K Gopalaiah - Mahalakshmi Layout

5. Dr CN Ashwath Narayan - Malleshwaram

6. S Raghu - CV Raman Nagar

7. Suresh Kumar - Rajaji Nagar

8. Uday B Garudachar - Chickpet

9. Ravi Subramanya - Basavanagudi

10. R Ashoka - Padmanaba Nagar

11. M Satish Reddy - Bommanahalli

12. M Krishnappa - Bangalore South

13. SR Vishwanath - Yelahanka

Meanwhile, Congress retained nine of its incumbent MLAs, including:

1. Krishna Byre Gowda - Byatarayanapura

2. Byrathi Suresh - Hebbal

3. KJ George - Sarvagnanagar

4. Rizwan Arshad - Shivajinagar

5. NA Haris - Shanti Nagar

6. M Krishnappa - Vijay Nagar

7. Zameer Ahmed Khan - Chamrajpet

8. Ramalinga Reddy - BTM Layout

9. B Shivanna - Anekal

So, for 22 of the 28 seats in Bengaluru Urban, nothing has changed.

In 2018, BJP had won 15 seats, Congress had won 12, and Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S) had won a single seat.

This time around, Congress has marginally raised its tally to 14, while the BJP's tally came down to 14. HD Kumaraswamy led JD(S) though, lost in Dasarahalli, where BJP won this time.

The Congress party defeated BJP in only one seat - Govindraj Nagar. Even this win can be assigned to the fact that state Minister V Somanna, who had defeated Congress' Priya Krishna by 11,375 votes in 2018, did not contest from the seat.

Somanna contested from two other seats this time - Varuna and Chamarajanagar.

Currently, Congress candidates from Gandhi Nagar and Jayanagar are leading by a very close margin against BJP candidates.