Several key Congress ministers are set to retain a place in the Karnataka Assembly even as their party was all set to lose its majority on Tuesday.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah won from Badami constituency by a narrow margin but lost from Chamundeshwari. The margin of victory in Badami was about 1,700 votes while he was second-placed against Janata Dal (Secular)’s GT Devegowda, who got 36,042 more votes than him, in Chamundeshwari.
Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy, a six-time legislator, was leading in BTM Layout constituency of Bengaluru by over 20,000 votes at 3.30 pm. KJ George, the minister in charge of Bengaluru, was ahead of Bharatiya Janata Party’s MN Reddy by nearly 50,000 votes.
Among the other key ministers who won or were leading in their constituencies were Rural Development Minister HK Patil, Irrigation Minister MB Patil, Minority Welfare Minister R Roshan Baig and Information Technology Minister Priyank Kharge. Energy Minister DK Shivakumar led by the highest margin, of nearly 80,000 votes, in Kanakapura.
HK Patil won Gadag by 1,868 votes while MB Patil won Babaleshwar by 29,715 votes. Baig was leading by 15,734 votes in Shivajinanagar constituency of Bengaluru. Priyank Kharge, the son of senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, won Chittapur seat by nearly 4,400 votes.
The list of ministers who lost included HM Revanna, who could not manage even the second-place. He was behind former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal (Secular) and CP Yogeeshwara of the BJP in Channapatna.
Law Minister TB Jayachandra lost Sira in Tumkuru district to the JD(S) candidate by 7,828 votes. Other ministers who lost or were trailing were Ramanatha Rai, H Anjaneya, Santosh Lad and Vinay Kulkarni.
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