Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) maintained lead in the Belgaum Lok Sabha seat and Basavakalyan assembly seat, while opposition Congress is leading in Maski assembly seat in Karnataka where counting is in progress for the 3 bypolls held on April 17, a poll official said on Sunday.
"In Belgaum, BJP's Mangala Agadi was ahead with 1,76,512 votes over Satish Jarkiholi of the Congress, who was trailing with 1,67,054 votes, 5 hours after counting began at 8 a.m. earlier in the day," the official told IANS on phone.
Belgaum is about 500km northwest of Bengaluru.
It's BJP vs Congress
In Basavakalyan assembly seat in Bidar district, BJP's Sharanu Salagar was ahead with 15,052 votes over Mala B. Narayanrao of the Congress, who secured 7,900 votes, as counting advanced.
In Maski (Scheduled Tribe) assembly seat in Raichur district, Basanagouda Turuvihal of the Congress was ahead with 35,901 votes over BJP's Pratapgouda Patil, who was trailing with 22,914 votes, as counting was under progress.
Vote count in all the 3 constituencies is being held amid tight security and under the Covid-induced safety guidelines to ensure social distancing.
Of 18,13,567 electorate in Belgaum, 10,16,025 voted, resulting in 56.02 per cent polling. Of 2,39,782 electorate in Basavakalyan, 1,47,647 voted, polling 61.58 per cent of votes. Of 2,06,429 electorate in Maski, 1,45,458 voted, resulting in 70.40 per cent polling.
In all, 30 candidates, including 10 in Belgaum, 12 in Basavakalyan and 8 in Maski contested the bypolls. Of them, 26 are men and 4 women.
The by-elections were held to fill vacancies caused by the death of Union Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi and BJP member in Belgaum and death of Congress legislator B. Narayan Rao in Basavakalyan and due to the disqualification of Pratapgouda Patil in Maski when he was with the Congress.
Angadi, a four-time Lok Sabha member from the region, died due to Covid on September 23, 2020 in New Delhi, while Rao also died due to the infection on September 24, 2020 in Bengaluru.
Satish, 58, is a legislator from the Yemakanmardi Assembly seat in the border district of the state.
Satish is also the younger brother of BJP's tainted former state Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, who is embroiled in the sleaze CD that has rocked the state recently.
Patil, who defected to BJP from Congress in November 2019, has re-contested to retain Maski on the lotus symbol.
Interestingly, Turuvihal lost to Patil in the May 2018 assembly elections as a BJP candidate. He joined Congress recently to contest on its Hand symbol against Patil.
Though the opposition Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) did not contest in Belgaum and Maski, it fielded Syed Yasrab Ali Quadri in Basavakalyan, resulting in a triangular contest for the high-profile seat.
Mala is the widow of B. Narayanrao of Congress, whose death due to Covid in September 2020 caused the vacancy in Basavakalyan.
(With inputs from IANS)
