Ahead of the Karnataka Assembly polls, BJP leader and former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa gave up his stronghold seat of Shikaripura in favour of his son B.Y. Vijayendra. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s son Priyank Kharge has won the Chittapur seat his father won in the 2008 State elections. There isn’t a dearth of candidates from influential families fielded by political parties in this year’s Karnataka Assembly elections. Even as the incumbent Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has conceded defeat to the Congress, here’s a look at how candidates from political dynasties fared in this year’s polls.
Also read: Karnataka election results 2023 live updates
The Yediyurappa family
Mr. Yediyurappa, former Chief Minister, gave up his seat of Shikaripura in favour of his son Mr. Vijayendra. Mr. Yediyurappa has been holding the Shikaripur seat since 1983 and the current elections marked the first time the BJP leader did not contest from the seat. Mr. Vijayendra, an electoral greenhorn, successfully managed to bag the constituency traditionally represented by his father, winning with a margin of over 11,000 votes against independent candidate S.P. Nagarajagowda. Mr. Yediyurappa’s other son, B.Y. Raghavendra, is the Lok Sabha member from Shivamogga.
The Bangarappa family
Kumar Bangarappa, one of the sons of former Chief Minister S. Bangarappa, contested from the Sorab constituency as a BJP candidate, lost to his brother Madhu Bangarappa, who fought on a Congress ticket. Their father, S. Bangarappa, had won the Sorab seat seven times, during a political career that saw him switch parties.
The Kharge family
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s son, Priyank Kharge, won the Chittapur seat for a third time in a row. His father had won the seat in the 2008 Assembly elections.
Belgavi’s Jarkiholi brothers
Former Ministers Ramesh Jarkiholi (Gokak) and Balachandra Jarkiholi (Arabhavi), who fought on BJP tickets in Belagavi district, are brothers. Mr. Balachandra Jarkiholi, who is the chairman of Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), was at 7:04 p.m. on Saturday leading in the Arabhavi seat against independent candidate Bimappa Gundapa Gadad by a margin of more than 16,000 votes.
Ramesh Jarkiholi, meanwhile, won his Gokak seat against a Congress candidate. Interestingly, another member of the family Satish Jarkiholi is in the Congress.
The Jarkiholi brothers are related through matrimony to Ballari MP Y. Devendrappa, and Shivanagouda Naik, Devadurga MLA from Raichur district. Mr. Shivanagouda lost his Devedura seat to the JD(S) candidate in this election.
The Gowda family
In another battle that drew a lot of eyeballs, former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda’s grandson and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Kumaraswamy, was eyeing an electoral turnaround in the Ramanagara Assembly constituency, after a loss in the 2019 Assembly polls. He has lost, however, to Congress veteran H.A. Iqbal Hussain, by a margin of over 10,000 votes.
Others
Ramesh Katti of the BJP is the uncle of Nikhil Katti, who was chosen to contest against Ganesh Hukkeri in Chikkodi -Sadalaga seat. Mr. Ramesh Katti has served as Lok Sabha member from Chikkodi when the seat became vacant following the demise of his father and former Minister Umesh Katti, a Lingayat leader from Belagavi district. In the current election, while Mr. Ramesh Katti lost the Chikkodi -Sadalaga seat to Mr. Hukkeri, his nephew Mr. Nikhil Katti won the Hukkeri seat against A.B. Patil of the Congress.
Huballi-Dharwad-West MLA Aravind Bellad is the son of former MLA Chandrakant Bellad, who represented the constituency from 2008 to 2013. Mr. Aravind Bellad has been representing the Huballi-Dharwad-West seat for the BJP since 2013. This time as well, he managed to bag the seat with a significant margin of over 38,600 against Congress’ Deepak Chinchore.
Karnataka Tourism Minister Anand Singh dropped out of this year’s race but succeeded in getting a ticket for his son Siddharth Singh from Vijayanagara in Vijayanagara district. However, Mr. Siddharth Singh lost the seat to Congress leader H.R. Gaviyappa.
