Saffron wave takes over Bengaluru as BJP secures victories in all three seats

BJP secures victories in Bengaluru constituencies, with P.C. Mohan, Tejasvi Surya, and Shobha Karandlaje emerging as winners.

While the counting process in two constituencies, Bengaluru North and Bengaluru South, was one-sided and predictable, there was a neck-to-neck fight until the last rounds in the Bengaluru Central constituency, where P.C. Mohan, three-time BJP MP, finally emerged victorious against the Congress candidate Mansoor Ali Khan. 

While Mr. Mohan was leading in the initial rounds of counting, he then lost the lead by 4,000 votes by the fourth round. Gradually, Mr. Khan was leading by a margin of 83,381 votes only to finally lose by 32,707 votes.  

The BJP workers at the Mount Carmel College counting centre looked rather disappointed until the 1,13,000 votes from the Mahadevapura Assembly constituency proved to be a game changer for Mr. Mohan. This was followed by 20,000 votes which came from Gandhinagar, 39,000 from Rajajinagar, and 22,000 from C.V. Raman Nagar constituencies (most of which were in his favour) which sealed Mr. Mohan’s victory.

Thanking voters for his fourth victory in the elections, Mr. Mohan said: “For Bengaluru, especially my constituency, I will bring in more grants from the Centre. I will also ensure that the pace is picked up for the suburban rail project and also get more grants for the expansion of Namma Metro. Once the plans are approved for the circular rail project, we will quickly work on that too.” 

As Mr. Khan left the counting centre, the celebrations of the BJP workers reached its climax with many bursting crackers and chanting slogans. 

At SSMRV College where the votes were counted for Bengaluru South, victory went to Tejasvi Surya from the BJP who defeated Sowmya Reddy from the Congress with a huge margin of 2,75,026 votes.  

In his first Lok Sabha elections in 2019, Mr. Surya, 33, secured a massive victory with a margin of over 3.3 lakh votes against the Congress candidate B.K. Hariprasad. Although the margin was slightly less this year, he still won comfortably, despite the strong influence of Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy in the constituency.