Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two visits to Shivamogga since January this year did not help the BJP retain its seats it had won in the 2018 elections. Of the seven seats in the district, the party could retain only three.
Mr. Modi was in Shivamogga on February 27 to inaugurate the airport at Sogane near Shivamogga. He addressed a huge rally on the day and it was dubbed as an election rally. Later, he addressed another rally at Ayanur on May 7. People of Shivamogga and neighbouring Chikkamagaluru and Davangere districts too attended the rally. Interestingly, the constituency where the PM addressed the rally, has been won by JD(S) candidate Sharada Puryanaik. She won against K.B. Ashok Naik of the BJP by a margin of 15,142 votes.
Home Minister Araga Jnanendra retained Tirthahalli seat by defeating his rival Kimmane Ratnakar by a margin of 12,241 votes. Rahul Gandhi of the Congress had campaigned for Mr. Kimmane Ratnakar in Tirthahalli. However, his campaign did not help him win.
BJP leader B.Y. Vijayendra, son of former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, faced a tough fight from S.P. Nagaraj Gowda, an Independent candidate, in Shikaripur. He won by 11,008 votes, a low margin, given the fact that the constituency was represented by his father eight times. His elder brother B.Y. Raghavendra had won seat once.
The BJP fielded S.N. Channabasappa, a loyal party worker, in Shivamogga after sitting MLA K.S. Eshwarappa announced retirement from electoral politics. He has been known for his pro-Hindutva protests and controversial speeches. He was arrested for threatening to behead Congress leader Siddaramaiah in 2015. He defeated Congress candidate H.C.Yogesh by a margin of 27,674 votes.
Madhu Bangarappa of the Congress won Sorab constituency by a margin of 44,262 against his brother Kumar Bangarappa of the BJP. They contested against each other for the fifth time. The constituency has been held by the family since 1967, when it came into existence, except once in 2008.
B.K. Sangameshwara has retained his Bhadravati seat by defeating Sharada Appaji of the JD(S) by a thin margin of 2,705 votes. The constituency has never elected a BJP candidate. This time, the people were against the BJP with regard to factors like price rise, besides the closure of the Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant, a unit of SAIL in Bhadravati.
In Sagar, former MLA Belur Gopalakrishna won against former Minister Hartal Halappa by a margin of 16,022 votes. The Congress had taken out protest rallies on the issue of rights of forest dwellers and allotment of land for those who parted with their land for Sharavati hydroelectric project.
