The contest in Kanakapura constituency between sitting MLA and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president DK Shivakumar and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Minister R Ashoka is one of the key battles in the2023 Karnataka Assembly elections. A seven-time MLA, DK Shivakumar has been elected three times from Karnakapura since 2008, with a steadily increasing margin of victory in each election.
DK Shivakumar won from Kanakapura by a huge margin of over 70,000 votes. As of 1.30 pm, according to the Election Commission of India, DK Shivakumar had secured 84,616 votes, while JD(S)'s B Nagaraju secured 14,457 votes and BJP's R Ashoka was in third place with 12,745 votes.
Update: As of 11.50 am, DK Shivakumar was leading by 41,746, with JD(S)'s B Nagaraju trailing behind with 8738 votes. R Ashoka was in third place with 8530 votes.
Update: As of 11 am on May 13, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI), DK Shivakumar was leading in Kanakapura by a huge margin of 35,907 votes.
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Considered to be the bastion of the Shivakumar-Suresh brothers, Kanakapura constituency in the Bangalore Rural district has been a stronghold for the Congress party in the region. However, the BJP is looking to challenge this dominance by fielding R Ashoka, a popular Vokkaliga leader who faces a tough fight in the constituency.
With 224 seats in the Karnataka Assembly, a party needs 113 seats to form the government. The 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections threw up a fractured mandate, with the BJP emerging the single largest party, winning 104 seats. The Congress won 78 seats while the JD(S) picked up 37 seats. BS Yediyurappa was invited to form the government and was sworn in as Chief Minister. But he stepped down three days later, just before the trust vote. The Congress and JD(S) came together to form the coalition government with HD Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister.
However, this government lasted only 13 months, until 17 MLAs belonging to the Congress and the JD(S) defected to the BJP in July 2019. While Yediyurappa returned as CM, he stepped down in 2021, and was replaced by Basavaraj Bommai.
This time, the Congress campaign was focussed on the failings of the incumbent BJP. The BJP sought to counter this by invoking the personality of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the power of ‘double engine’ government. The JD(S), meanwhile, appealed for a rejection of both national parties.
A total of 2,613 candidates contested the elections, out of which 2,427 were male, 185 were female, and one was a transgender person. This time, Karnataka saw a record voter turnout of 72.67%.
Watch: Karnataka Elections 2023: The caste factor | DK Shivakumar | Bommai | Yediyurappa | Siddaramaiah