Bengaluru: Will it be 2-1 and Advantage Congress? Or will it be 2-1 and the status quo for the opposition BJP? Counting of votes for the three Assembly seats-Hebbal, Devadurga and Bidar North-will be taken up Tuesday morning with the results expected by the afternoon. The BJP had won Hebbal and Bidar in the 2013 polls while the Congress bagged Devadurga.
All eyes are on Hebbal, which witnessed an explosive campaign with both parties deploying all their resources and top leaders for the campaign. A loss in Hebbal could be a big blow for the Congress as its candidate, Rehaman Sharief, grandson of senior leader Jaffer Sharief, was handpicked by the party high command overruling the choices of state leaders including CM Siddaramaiah.
For the BJP, losing Hebbal could be disastrous after the embarrassing defeat in the recent Council polls from local bodies constituencies. It had won the seat twice in a row in 2008 and 2013. The saffron party has been struggling to regain lost ground and a loss would mean it is getting nowhere in its endeavour.
The three results will not have any impact on the fortunes of the Siddaramaiah government, which enjoys a comfortable majority in the Assembly. But it would be a pointer to the political undercurrents in the state and whether the Congress continues to be as popular as it was when it won a majority in 2013.
