In Belagavi, the Congress bagged 11 of the 18 seats. The second biggest district after Bengaluru, had 13 BJP MLAs and five Congress members in the outgoing Assembly.
Laxman Savadi, who quit the BJP to join the Congress, won by a huge margin of over 76,000 votes against his rival BJP candidate Mahesh Kumthalli in Athani. His entry into the Congress is believed to have helped the party gain a larger number of Lingayat votes, party leaders say.
