Kumta: A day after the results of state assembly elections, all the candidates those who have won or lost are calculating the positive and negative factors that led to the results.
The victorious candidates are in Bengaluru following political developments, while the defeated ones are ruing their luck. It’s a big victory for the BJP in Uttara Kannada which has won four out of six assembly constituencies.
Popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Hindutva card and suspicious death of Paresh Mesta in Honnavar played a vital role in the victory of BJP in the coastal district.
The Congress, which had five MLAs (including two independents who joined it later) in the previous assembly, has managed to retain Haliyal and Yellapur seats.
Other seats were captured by the BJP.
JD(S) which tried to establish its presence has not succeeded.
Senior Congress leader R V Deshpande (61,577) managed to win Haliyal constituency by 5,140 votes over BJP candidate Sunil Hegde (56,437).
However Deshpande was not happy with the election results. He said people have not considered development works taken up by him seriously. “
I worked day and night for people but still people have not elected me with a good margin,” he added.
Yellapur Congress candidate and sitting MLA Shivaram Hebbar (66,290) won by 1,483 votes over BJP candidate V S Patil (64,807) which is the lowest margin in the district.
In the beginning of the counting, Hebbar was trailing by a big margin. In the last rounds of counting, he romped home. Former minister and BJP leader Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri won for the sixth consecutive time.
In Sirsi constituency, he beat Congress candidate Bheemanna Naik by a margin of 17,461 votes. But in Karwar, Kumta and Bhatkal constituencies, sitting MLAs and Congress candidates Satish Sail, Sharada Shetty and Mankalu Vaidya lost to BJP candidates. Haliyal, Yellapur and Sirsi MLAs retained their seats, but it was opposite in the coastal belt.
According to political expert M H Naik, after communal violence in the coastal region, there was an antiCongress wave, as the government stood in support of minority community people which angered people of majority community.
Along with these factors, anti-incumbency and Modi wave helped the BJP to get more votes.
Therefore coastal voters opted for the BJP including two new faces - Roopali Naik and Sunil Naik, he added. People wanted change in Karwar constituency and the woman factor worked here.
In Kumta, independent candidates have taken Congress votes and it led to the defeat of Sharada Shetty. But in Bhatkal, Hindutva and death of Paresh Mesta played a big role in the defeat of Mankalu Vaidya, he said.