Karnataka verdict: Setback for BJP in Puttur; Congress candidate Ashok Kumar Rai wins

MANGALURU: Congress’s Ashok Kumar Rai emerged victorious in Puttur constituency with a margin of 4,149 votes against Hindutva firebrand Arun Kumar Puthila who gave him a tough fight till the last round of vote counting.
Rai got 66,607 votes while Puthila secured 62,458 votes.
BJP’s decision to play caste politics and to ignore the voice of its Karyakartas cost the party dear, especially in a constituency known as Hindutva bastion.
It saw RSS leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat, former CM D V Sadananda Gowda and BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel working hard for a win.
More importantly, even Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adithyanath’s magic did not work in the constituency and BJP candidate and former ZP president Asha Thimappa Gowda was pushed to the third position by securing 37,558 votes.
Soon after the results were declared, Rai told reporters at the counting station that “BJP did not work in the past five years and were asking for votes in the name of Hindutva. They tried to share fake stories for votes. When it comes to development, we need to cooperate with everyone. Voters expected a change and it has happened across the state. Voters have believed in our guarantee card and the manifesto has worked in the party’s favour," he said, adding that getting a post in the cabinet is left to the party’s high command.
Rai’s victory makes it evident that the traditional BJP voters, especially the youth were annoyed with the party, especially Nalin Kumar Kateel. When BJP worker Praveen Nettaru was murdered last year, it was for the first time that the karyakartas of Puttur and Sullia expressed anger against the BJP state leaders.
Party Karyakarthas believed that if Puthila or any young aspirant from the BJP or even incumbent Sanjeeva Matandoor was given a BJP ticket, they would have secured at least 90,000 votes, thus blaming Kateel for the defeat. The cumulative vote of Puthila and Asha is more than one lakh votess. In the 2018 elections, Mantandoor of the BJP had secured 90073 votes defeating Shakuntala T Shetty of the Congress, who got 70596 votes.
Interestingly, SDPI candidate Shafi Bellare, an accused in the Praveen Nettaru murder case, managed to secure just 2,788 votes. Four other candidates secured less than 700 votes each and 866 NOTA votes were polled in the constituency.