Karnataka by-poll 2018: Voting begins, semi-final for Congress and JD(S) alliance

On November 3, three Lok Sabha and two Assembly constituencies are going to vote in Karnataka. The Karnataka by-poll election is being seen as the litmus test for the ruling Congress-JD(S) alliance as this will be the first major election after forging the alliance five months ago.

Congress and JD(S) have fielded their candidates in all the seats. The JD(S) will be contesting the Mandya and Shivamogga Lok Sabha seats and the Ramanagara assembly constituency and the Congress has put up candidates in the Lok Sabha seat in Ballari and assembly seat in Jamkhandi. The results for these fives seats will be declared on November 6.

The by-poll is significant as they have termed it as a ‘semi-final’ to the 2019 General Elections and called for a similar ‘grand secular alliance’ to keep the BJP out of the power. BJP, which has been questioning the longevity of the coalition government in Karnataka and has predicted its fall once the by-poll results are out.

“If the Congress-JDS alliance wins all five seats, it will send an indication to the whole country. It will be a message to all the states going to the polls in the next few months,” JDS president H D Deve Gowda said.

There are 31 candidates in the fray in all the five constituencies, though the contest is mainly between the Congress-JDS coalition and the BJP.

Karnataka BJP chief and former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa paid a visit to temple and offered prayers with his wife in Shivamogga as voting for three Lok Sabha seats and two two assembly seats begin.

Former Karnataka CM BS Yeddyurappa and his son BS Raghavendra visit Hucharaya Swamy Temple in Shimoga. BS Raghavendra is contesting from parliamentary constituency of Shimoga. pic.twitter.com/Mm6cE44UDB

— ANI (@ANI) November 3, 2018

Former Karnataka CM BS Yeddyurappa casts his vote at a polling booth in ward no 132 at Shikaripura in Shimoga. Voting for 3 parliamentary constituencies Bellary, Shimoga, Mandya&2 legislative assembly constituencies Jamkhandi, Ramanagaram began at 7 am today. #KarnatakaByElection pic.twitter.com/6SIbyGRZ1q

— ANI (@ANI) November 3, 2018

BS Yeddyurappa seemed confident and said that BJP win in all three constituencies. He said that his son BS Raghavendra will win 101 per cent.”101 percent my son (BS Raghavendra) is going to win the Shimoga seat. We are also going to win Bellary & Jamkhandi. We will get an absolute majority in all the constituencies.

The by-poll has been necessitated after Yeddyurappa (Shivamogga) and Sriramalu (Ballari), and CS Puttaraju of JD(S) (Mandya) resigned as Member of Parliaments to contest the Karnataka Assembly elections.  While, By-poll to Jamkhandi assembly seat was caused by the death of Congress MLA Siddu Nyamagouda, while Ramanagara fell vacant after Kumaraswamy gave up the seat preferring Chennapatna, the other constituency from where he had won.

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