BJP stages comeback in Karna, Congs fares below expectations

: Bouncing back with an impressive show, a resurgent BJP today bagged 17 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, where the ruling Congress fell short of its own high expectations ending up with a tally of a mere nine.
The poll outcome was a setback to Congress which had set its sights on winning 18 or 20 seats, hoping to sustain its runaway success in the 2013 Assemby polls which saw it return to power bringing down the first ever BJP government in South.
JDS led by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda bagged two seats, including Hassan, where he won by 1,00,462 votes.

After being on the downhill since its Assembly polls debacle, the results are heartwarming for BJP, though its tally is two less than 19 seats secured in the 2009 polls, as it has recovered lost ground by getting its act together.
In the 2009 polls, Congress won six seats and JDS three.
BJP's victory spread was well balanced with the party faring well in almost all regions of the state, although it drew much of its strength in north Karnataka.

The outcome could be a source of worry for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as below-the-expected tally might weaken his standing within the party, increasing his vulnerability as he is essentially perceived as a 'Janata Parivar' man.

Bangalore stood solidly behind BJP, as it retained all the three seats by impressive victory margins.
In Bangalore South, Infosys co-founder and chief architect of UPA's Aadhar programme Nandan Nilekani suffered a humiliating defeat from BJP's Ananth Kumar, who retained the seat for the sixth time winning it by a huge margin of over 2,27,000 votes. The billionaire technocrat conceded defeat even as counting was under progress.
In Bangalore North, former Chief Minister D V Sadananada Gowda put up an impressive show, winning the seat by 2,29,764 votes while his party colleague retained Bangalore Central by over 1,37,500 votes.
Union ministers Mallikarjun Kharge (Gulbarga), Moily (Chikkaballapur) and K H Muniyappa (Kolar) retained their seats.

Scoring a spectacular victory, former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa won the Shimoga seat by 3,63,305 votes, after his return to BJP early this year by merging his Karnataka Janata Paksha with the parent party.
BJP's creditable comeback was greatly powered by the Modi factor as also significantly by the return of Yeddyurappa to BJP months ahead of the polls.
"When people desire for change such results occur. This result is a setback for Congress both at national as well as state levels," Siddaramaiah, who had targeted to put up a good show, told reporters here.