Karnataka Assembly Election: Ramesh Jarkiholi retains his Gokak constituency

Belagavi (Karnataka): BJP leader Ramesh Jarkiholi, who were among the Congress MLAs to switch sides in 2019 leading to the fall of the Congress-JDS government, won from his home turf of Gokak in Belagavi district with a margin of 25,412 votes on Saturday. Jarkiholi got 1,05,313 votes and his Congress rival Mahantesh Kallappa Kadadi bagged 79,901 votes. Independent candidate Bhimashi Naik was in the third place with 966 votes, according to the Election Commission website.

In 2018, Jarkiholi defeated Ashok Pujari as a Congress candidate with a margin of 14,280 votes. In the 2019 bypoll, he defeat his brother Lakhan by a margin of 29,006 votes.

Nicknamed "Sahukara", Ramesh Jarkiholi of the powerful Jarkiholi family of Belagavi has been representing this seat since 1999. He quit the Congress and joined the BJP in 2019.


Jarkiholi resigned from his ministerial position following a sex scandal two years ago.

The Congress-JD(S) alliance government led by H D Kumaraswamy collapsed in 14 months, triggered by the resignation of 17 ruling coalition MLAs, including Jarkiholi.