The Hindu : Congress routs rivals in Humnabad bypoll

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 02, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Congress routs rivals in Humnabad bypoll

By Our Staff Correspondent

BIDAR MARCH 1. The Congress candidate, Rajashekhar Patil, has won the much-hyped Humnabad Assembly byelection by a convincing margin.

The results of the bypoll were declared today, and Mr. Patil defeated his nearest rival, Mirajuddin Patel of the JD(S), by a margin of 9,320 votes.

The BJP candidate, Subash Kallur, whose election from Humnabad was declared void by a Supreme Court order in October 2002, was relegated to the third position.

Of the 1,044,94 votes polled, the Congress secured 38,758 votes (37.09 per cent), the JD(S) 29,438 votes (28.17 per cent), and the BJP 28,954 votes (27.7 per cent).

The other eight candidates, including the BSP candidate and son of the BJP MP, Ramachandra Veerappa, Subash Ramachandra Arya, and the All-India Janata Dal candidate, Basheeruddin Halliparga, lost their deposits. Only two of the eight candidates, including Mr. Arya (1,910 votes) and an independent candidate, Moulanasab Faridsab (2,238), managed to cross the three-digit mark.

Counting began at 8 a.m. at the BVB College here, and it was over by around 10 a.m. Heavy security arrangements were made for maintaining law and order during counting.

In the first round, the Congress stood first, securing 4,182 votes. It was followed by the BJP with 3,788 votes, and the JD(S) with 3,296 votes. However, in the second round, the JD(S) candidate took a lead by securing 5,188 votes. He was followed by the Congress candidate with 4,389 votes, and the BJP nominee with 2,150 votes. However, from the third round till the ninth and final round, the Congress surged ahead. It is evident from the result that while Mr. Rajashekhar Patil and Mr. Mirajuddin Patel have improved upon their performances in the 1999 election, Mr. Kallur has lost ground. In the 1999 Assembly election, Mr. Kallur polled 35,438 votes (36 per cent), Mr. Patil, who was the Congress candidate, 31,866 votes (33 per cent), and Mr. Patel 26,099 votes (27 per cent). The byelection was a prestigious contest for the candidates of the three main parties. Political observers viewed the byelection result as a likely pointer to the outcome of the Assembly polls scheduled for 2004. The success is sweet revenge for the Congress, whose candidate lost to the JD(S) nominee, H.D. Deve Gowda, in the byelection to the Lok Sabha from Kanakapura.

By wresting the Humnabad seat, the JD(S), led by Mr. Deve Gowda and Siddaramaiah, wanted to prove that their party was stronger than the JD(U) and could win elections independently.

Although the AIJD candidate has fared badly in the byelection, the defeat of the JD(S) candidate has brought to centre stage the debate on whether an alliance between the JD(S) and the JD(U) would have worked. For the BJP, it was a chance to prove that it was not a spent force in State politics.

The byelection was preceded by high-voltage campaigning by both national and State-level leaders for over a month. The results have come as a shot in the arm for the Congress and Basavaraj Patil Humnabad, Minister in charge of Bidar District and father of the party candidate.

Mr. Humnabad described the Congress's victory as a vindication of the development programmes taken up by the party government.

He attributed the success to the combined effort of party leaders such as the Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, the KPCC President, M. Janardhan Poojary, the AICC Secretary, Mirza Irshad Baig, and the senior ministers, Mallikarjun Kharge, Dharam Singh, Qamar-ul-Islam, and H.M. Revanna. "Moreover, the unity shown by the district leaders helped the party in a big way," Mr. Humnabad observed. He was of the view that Mr. Kallur did not win this time because he failed to live up to the expectations of the people who supported him in the last election.

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