Nikhil Kumaraswamy, the son of former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, is contesting the 2023 Karnataka Assembly election from Ramanagara. The actor and Janata Dal (Secular) youth wing leader narrowly lost the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Mandya to Sumalatha Ambareesh, who contested as an independent candidate. He is now hoping to rekindle his political career from Ramanagara, where his closest rival is Congress veteran Iqbal Hussain, who previously lost from Ramanagara to HD Kumaraswamy in 2018. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielded Gowtham Gowda, who wasn’t expected to put up a serious fight.
Nikhil suffered a defeat in Ramanagara, a big shock for the JD(S). As of 1.30 pm, according to ECI, Nikhil was trailing by 11,093 votes.
Update: As of 12.30 pm, Nikhil was trailing by 13,462 votes.
Update: As of 11.45 am, Nikhil Kumaraswamy was trailing by 14,477 votes.
As of 11 am on May 13, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI), Nikhil Kumaraswamy was trailing behind Congress’ Iqbal Hussain by 14,781 votes.
For the first time, five independent news organisations — The News Minute, The Caravan, Newslaundry, Scroll and The Wire — are coming together on May 13 to cover the Karnataka election results, getting you insights, not noise.
Ramanagara constituency is also significant for having elected three former Chief Ministers till date — Kengal Humanthaiah, Nikhils’ grandfather HD Deve Gowda, and HD Kumaraswamy. The constituency recorded an 85.05% voter turnout this time.
With 224 seats in the Karnataka Assembly, a party needs 113 seats to form the government. The 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections threw up a fractured mandate, with the BJP emerging the single largest party, winning 104 seats. The Congress won 78 seats while the JD(S) picked up 37 seats. BS Yediyurappa was invited to form the government and was sworn in as Chief Minister. But he stepped down three days later, just before the trust vote. The Congress and JD(S) came together to form the coalition government with HD Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister.
However, this government lasted only 13 months, until 17 MLAs belonging to the Congress and the JD(S) defected to the BJP in July 2019. While Yediyurappa returned as CM, he stepped down in 2021, and was replaced by Basavaraj Bommai.
This time, the Congress campaign was focussed on the failings of the incumbent BJP. The BJP sought to counter this by invoking the personality of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the power of ‘double engine’ government. The JD(S), meanwhile, appealed for a rejection of both national parties.
A total of 2,613 candidates contested the elections, out of which 2,427 were male, 185 were female, and one was a transgender person. This time, Karnataka saw a record voter turnout of 72.67%.