D K Sivakumar and the Congress cut into the Vokkaliga vote, sealing wins in 30 of 61 seats in Old Mysuru

The Congress' resounding victory in Karnataka has come on the back of state party chief D K Shivakumar's emergence as the face of the Vokkaliga community.

One of two frontrunner's for the Chief Ministerial post, Shivakumar led the national party to victory in 30 of the 61 seats in the Old Mysuru region, which is home to seven districts with a significant share of the Vokkaliga vote.

Once a Janata Dal (Secular) stronghold, Old Mysuru went the way of the Congress party, with the H D Kumaraswamy led regional party's tally tanking to an all-time low of 19.


The Congress and Shivakumar were able to make inroads into the JD(S) bastion by making sure tickets were allocated to strong local politicians and credible turncoats were given their due.

JD(S) was not the only party to lose ground in the Vokkaliga regions, with the Bharatiya Janata Party saw its Vokkaliga seats cut down to one from the six that they won in the earlier elections.

The Congress wrested control in six of the seven seats in the Mandya region - five via its own party members and one via Darshan Puttannaiah, an independent candidate backed by the national party. Prior to Saturday's wipeout, the JD(S) held all seven seats.

This pattern repeated in Ramanagara and Mysuru, where the JD(S) was left with three of 11 seats - a steep decline from its tally of seven, five years ago.

In Bengaluru rural, where JD(S) had two seats, they were entirely wiped out. The only silver lining for Kumaraswamy and Co. was retaining four of the seven seats at stake in its bastion of Hassan district. Two less than its 2018 tally.

An all-time low seat count and the loss of a major chunk of the Vokkaliga vote could put the survival of the JD(S) in question. Predicted to be a deciding factor in the polls before the vote, the regional party's downfall was not insignificant to the Congress securing the biggest margin of victory in Karnataka since 1989.

With inputs from TOI