In Belagavi, the Congress bagged 11 of the 18 seats. The second biggest district after Bengaluru, had 13 BJP MLAs and five Congress members in the outgoing Assembly.
Laxman Savadi, who quit the BJP to join the Congress, won by a huge margin of over 76,000 votes against his rival BJP candidate Mahesh Kumthalli in Athani. His entry into the Congress is believed to have helped the party gain a larger number of Lingayat votes, party leaders say.
Similarly, the margin of victory of Ganesh Hukkeri, the Congress candidate from Chikkodi-Sadalaga, was huge. Mr. Hukkeri, son of former Minister Prakash Hukkeri beat BJP’s Ramesh Katti by 73,000 votes.
Satish Jarkiholi, Congress MLA, who is seeking re-election from Yamakanamaradi beat Basavaraj Hundri, the BJP candidate, by over 55,000 votes.
In Belagavi Rural, Laxmi Hebbalkar won by over 55,000 votes over the BJP nominee Nagesh Manolkar, a loyalist of Ramesh Jarkiholi. In Bailhongal, the Congress nominee Mahantesh Koujalagi won by over 3,000 votes over the BJP’s Jagadish Metgud.
In Belagavi North, the Congress candidate Asir Raju Patil won by 4,500 over the BJP’s Ravi Patil. In Kagwad, Srimant Patil of the BJP lost to Bharamagouda (Raju) Kage of the Congress.
Mahendra Tammannavar of the Congress won the Kudchi (SC) seat. He got a lead of around 25,000 votes over P. Rajeev of the BJP.
In Ramdurg, Ashok Pattan, former MLA, won by over 12,000 over the BJP’s Chikka Revanna.
In Saundatti Yallamma seat, the Congress’s Vishwas Vaidya won by a lead of 15,000 votes over the BJP’s Rathna Mamani. The JD(S) nominee Saurav Chopra who had left the Congress just before filing nominations, is third.
In Kittur, Babasaheb Patil of the Congress won with a lead of over 3,000 votes against the BJP MLA Mahantesh Dodagoudar.
In a closely fought election in Gokak, Ramesh Jarkiholi won with a lead of over 21,000 over the Congress nominee Mahantesh Kadadi.
In Hukkeri, BJP nominee Nikhil Umesh Katti won with a lead of around 40,000 over A.B. Patil of the Congress. In Nippani, Shashikala Jolle, Minister and BJP MLA, won with a lead of 7,000 votes over Uttam Patil of the NCP. The Congress candidate and former MLA Kakasaheb Patil is third.
In Arabhavi, Balachandra Jarkiholi won with a lead of over 71,000 votes over Independent candidate Bheemappa Gadad. The Congress nominee Aravind Dalwai was third place.
In Belagavi South, Abhay Patil won with a lead of over 12,000 votes against the MES candidate Ramakanth Konduskar.
The Congress lost in Khanapur, where incumbent MLA Anjali Nimbalkar lost by 54,000 votes against Vithal Halgekar of the BJP. The JD(S) candidate Nasir Bagwan was in the third place and MES nominee Muralidhar Patil was in the fourth place.
In Raibag, BJP MLA Duryodhan Aihole won with a margin of 3,000 votes over Independent candidate Shambhu Kallolikar, former IAS officer. JD(S) candidate Pradeep Malagi was third and the Congress was fourth place.
As many as 10 BJP MLAs were elected in 2018. Three of them, Mr. Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mr. Srimant Patil, and Mr. Mahesh Kumthalli joined the BJP in 2019.
