Congress recaptured its citadel with a bang, giving a severe jolt to the BJP. Congress candidate V.S. Ugrappa won the Ballari Lok Sabha byelection by a margin of 2,43,161 votes against his nearest BJP rival J. Shanta, a former MP and sister of BJP strongman B. Sriramulu.
Mr. Ugrappa polled 6,28,365 votes against Ms. Shanta’s 3,85,204. The victory margin is the highest in the history of Lok Sabha elections in Ballari after Congress candidate V.K.R.V. Rao’s 1971 win with a margin of 1.52 lakh.
The outcome of the byelection was also a severe setback to the BJP, as well as the Reddy brothers and Mr. Sriramulu, as the party could not retain the seat held by it since 2004.
Right from the first round Mr. Ugrappa secured a huge lead and maintained it till the end of the 18th round. He also established leads in all the eight Assembly segments, including Ballari (city) and Kudligi, which are represented by the BJP.
Mr. Ugrappa secured his highest lead in Sandur Assembly segment (38,675), followed by Kampli (34,448), Ballari (ST) (33,255), Hadagali (31,459), Hagari Bommanahalli (30,262), Vijayanagar (29,460), Ballari (city) (23,723) and Kudligi (22,029).
To ensure the victory of its candidate, and also to regain its stronghold, the Congress left no stone unturned. A huge contingent of Ministers, MLAs and other party leaders led by D.K. Shivakumar descended in Ballari and undertook rigorous campaigning.
For the BJP, several senior leaders including State BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa and Mr. Sriramulu campaigned in Ballary.
Ugrappa attributes victory to secular forces
Mr. Ugrappa attributed his victory to all voters supporting secularism.
“People of Ballari have blessed me. All my party leaders and workers and also of Janata Dal(S) have strived hard for my victory with a huge margin. More than my victory, I consider it as a victory of leaders and workers of coalition partners, pro-people organisations, Left parties and also the defeat of ‘anti-people’ forces,” he said after being declared elected.
Mr. Ugrappa said that although his tenure as MP was for a short duration of about six months, he would try to know the problems facing the district and also strive hard to resolve it besides working hard for the over all development of the district.
To a question whether he would contest in the coming general elections to the Lok Sabha in 2019, he said that he would only abide by the decision of the party in this regard. “If the party decides to field me in the coming election, I will,” he added.
On the accusation made by Mr. Sriramulu that Congress has misused power and resorted to distribution of money and liquor to win the election, Mr. Ugrappa said that it only showed the mindset of Mr. Sriramulu and also his attitude of talking loosely on people’s verdict. “Why did he not speak about it earlier and speaking now, after the verdict ? Such an attitude was like insulting the voters,” he observed.
