It was a shocking defeat for former Chief Minister HD Kumarasawamy’s son Nikhil Kumaraswamy in Ramanagara, a constituency which had remained the stronghold of the JD(S) for several consecutive elections. Defeating Nikhil Kumaraswamy, Congress’s Iqbal Hussain won by over 13,000 votes. Although the election commission hasn’t officially declared the victory, early leads have put Iqbal Hussain on the road to a decisive win. A senior leader, Iqbal had previously contested against and lost to former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, who is Nikhil’s father, from the same constituency in 2018.
The result comes as a blow to the aspirations of Nikhil Kumaraswamy after his loss in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh defeated him in the Mandya constituency. The setback compounded a miserable day for the JD(S) which is currently leading in only 23 in the state, according to the Election Commission of India.
In his campaign, Nikhil had focused on farmer-centric issues, questioning laws brought in by the BJP government in Karnataka and promising to waive off loans of farmers if the JD(S) comes to power. He was critical of the BJP’s attempts to polarise the voters in the region. “The BJP has sanctioned a Ram temple in Ramanagara now. They were in power for 4 years, why didn’t they do it earlier? It is clearly an election gimmick … Just like Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda are fictional characters made up by the BJP. (Adichunchanagiri seer) Sri Nirmalananda Swami has fact-checked them over these claims,” Nikhil said in an interview with TNM.
However, voters appear to have favoured Congress candidate Iqbal Hussain in a constituency that is dominated by Muslim and Vokkaliga voters.
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