Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Congress, JD(S) finalise Karnataka seat-sharing deal

BENGALURU: After weeks of parlays between the two coalition partners, the two parties appear to have agreed upon the seat sharing mechanism with the JD(S) scaling down their expectations and settling for eight of the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka.

Accordingly, the JD(S) will now fight alongside Congress in eight seats of Hassan, Mandya, Bengaluru North, Tumakuru, Udupi-Chikkamagalur, Shivamogga, Uttara Kannada and Vijayapura.

In rest of the 20 constituencies, the JD(S) will back the Congress candidates to be fielded by the national party.


With the present arrangement, the Congress will be sacrificing one of its own sitting MP constituency of Tumakuru, which is represented by S P Muddhanume Gowda. Incidentally, Gowda was with the JD(S) till 2014 and joined the Congress during the last general elections.

For JD(S), despite a gain of two possible seats with a favourable base for its party in Tumakuru and Bengaluru North, it appears to be a compromise by conceding the constituencies of Mysuru and Chikkaballapura where the regional party has a substantial base.

The compromise by JD(S)gives former Union minister Veerappa Moily a new lease of life after had retained the seat in 2014 by a narrow margin.

The seat sharing formula also gives the regional party supremo and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda two possible options of either contesting from Bengaluru North or Tumakuru, after having conceded the party bastions of Mandya and Hassan to his grandsons Nikhil Kumaraswamy and Prajwal Revanna.

In another interesting development under the seat sharing pact, the JD(S) has also scored a single seat from north Karnataka, that of Vijayapura.

Vijayapura district has seen two MLAs from the JD(S) winning the 2018 elections and giving a boost to the regional party in north Karnataka.

The Congress also has ceded the seats of Shivamogga and Uttara Kannada, the two bastions of the BJP stalwarts including the saffron party president B S Yeddyurappa and union minister Ananth Kumar Hegde.

Earlier in the day, the JD(S) general secretary Danish Ali met AICC president Rahul Gandhi and finalsied the seat sharing mechanism after discussions with Deve Gowda via phone.