Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, contesting against BJP’s V Somanna and Bharathi Shankar of the JD(S) in the Varuna constituency, is leading in the Karnataka assembly elections as per the Election Commission’s website.
The Congress stalwart currently has 45,075 votes while state minister Somanna has 26,049 votes according to the Election Commission (EC) trends at 12.40 pm of the votes polled.
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Siddaramaiah had won from the constituency in 2008 and 2013, but opted to contest from Badami and Chamundeshwari in 2008, winning only in Badami. In the 2018 Karnataka polls, the BJP’s Lingayat strongman Somanna had won from Govindaraja Nagar, his pocketborough in Bengaluru.
Siddaramaiah had announced that this will be his last election while casting his vote on Thursday. Adding that he won’t be retiring from politics, he expressed confidence in Congress’ win and said, “There is a tremendous response from the voters. I will get more than 60 per cent of the votes.”
As the Opposition Congress marched ahead in 127 seats on Saturday, the DK Shivakumar-led party made a strong comeback in the BJP’s sole southern citadel Karnataka. The party shot past the magic mark of 113 by mid-morning, while the BJP was leading in 67 seats.
Reacting to Congress’ huge victory, veteran leader Siddaramaiah said, “We told that even if PM Modi comes nothing will work and see that has happened. We are leading in 120 seats. As we expected we will get the majority.”
Notably, Siddaramaiah was Karnataka deputy CM in 1994 as part of a Janata Dal government. After a rift with JD(S) leader HD Deve Gowda, he was expelled from the party in 2004. He later joined the Congress in 2008 and became the CM following the 2013 elections.
Earlier in the day, Siddaramaiah’s son Yathindra said his father should be made the chief minister ‘in the interest of the state as his last regime saw good governance’. Siddaramaiah junior also reiterated that the party will do ‘anything’ to ensure that BJP does not come back to power.
