Gundlupet for Congress, Nanjangud for BJP?

Bengaluru: The results of  Sunday’s bypolls could come as a dampener for the Bharatiya Janata Party, which seemed confident of winning both,  as going by post-poll predictions, the Congress has an edge over it in Gundlupet, and while it may lose Nanjangud to it, it may not be by as many votes as it would have liked.

The saffron party has reportedly not fared well in Nanjangud town, which has around  45,000 votes, but has done  well in rural areas where a majority of Lingayats and Dalits are believed to have backed former minister, V. Srini-vasprasad, to whom the elections are a way of settling scores with the Congress owing to his unceremonious exit from the Cabinet.    

Mr Kalale Keshavamurthy of the Congress is said to have  polled more votes than him in the town as he is  a local and familiar with the people .

“We were expecting Mr Srinivasaprasad to win by around  25,000 votes ,but  now he could win by around 3,000 to 5,000 votes,” say his supporters.

While acknowledging the possibility of a much smaller victory margin,  the  former minister’s associates accuse the Congress of raining money on Nanjangud to ensure his defeat, claiming it had fixed Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh per booth in the constituency.

They also allege that the ruling party  wooed the minorities, the Kurubas, and a section of the SC/STs and backward classes by  distributing money with the help of even the local police in some villages.  

In Gundlupet, it is believed both the Congress and the BJP  have a 50:50 chance of winning. But the BJP claims the whopping 87.10 per cent voter  turnout on Sunday  was the result of the Congress luring voters to booths with its money power.

‘Congress spent Rs 100 crore’
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Mysuru, BJP candidate for Nanjangud V. Srinivasprasad alleged that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had created a Guinness record by spending Rs 100 crore on the  Nanjangud and Gundlupet bypolls.

“The Chief Minister himself took the lead in distributing money  and there were more poll irregularities  in Nanjangud and Gundlupet constituencies than in the Chamundeshwari bypolls that Mr Siddaramaiah contested as a Congress candidate,” he charged, adding,” "My victory is certain but the victory margin may be lesser than anticipated."