Mysuru: Both the Congress candidates who registered victory in the by-election held at Gundulpet and Nanjangud constituencies lost in the 2018 assembly election. During the by-election, almost the entire government led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had campaigned for them but in the just concluded election the duo didn’t get such support.
After the sudden demise of senior Congress leader Mahadeva Prasad, his wife Mohana Kumari had contested the by-election from Gundulpet constituency while Congress MLA from Nanjangud constituency Srinivasprasad had resigned from Congress party and joined the BJP. Because of this development, by-elections for both Gundulpet and Nanjangud constituencies were held in 2017.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and team took this election as a challenge and along with senior Congress leaders including D K Shivakumar, Dinesh Gundu Rao, U T Khader, Krishna Byregowda, H K Patil campaigned extensively for nearly a month in both the constituencies which had enabled both the party candidates to register victory against their opponents. But in the just concluded 2018 assembly elections, the same momentum and support were not there for both the candidates which resulted in them losing both the seats to BJP.
BJP candidate Niranjan Kumar representing Gundulpet constituency who stood second in the by-election emerged as victor by securing 94,151 votes while Congress candidate Mohana Kumari secured 77467 votes. In Nanjangud constituency, BJP candidate Harshavardhan who also happens to be son-in-law of senior BJP leader Srinivasprasad defeated Congress candidate Kalale Keshavamurthy by 12,479 votes. Harshavardhan secured 78,030 votes while Kalale managed to get 65,551 votes.