Nikhil Kumaraswamy, the son of Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy, a BJP ally, lost to Congress’ CP Yogeshwara by a margin of 25,413 votes in Channapatna, giving the ruling party in Karnataka something to cheer about after the deflating Maharashtra results.

Actor-turned-politician Nikhil Kumaraswamy, who is former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda’s grandson, secured 87,229 votes, while Yogeshwara, a BJP turncoat, got 1,12,642 votes.

BJP and JD(S) leaders including Deve Gowda, BS Yediyurappa had together campaigned for Nikhil in Channapatna.

A five-time MLA from the segment and a former minister, Yogeshwara, who is also an actor-turned-politician, had joined the Congress after quitting the BJP ahead of his nomination.

With the win in Channapatna, the Congress won all three bypolls in the state. 

In another huge upset for the BJP, Bharath Bommai, son of former Chief Minister of Karnataka Basavaraj Bommai, lost to Congress’ Yasir Pathan in Shigagaon bypoll.

Early trends had initially shown Bharath Bommai leading.

“I don’t say it is a defeat of Bharath Bommai, it’s a message from the people for what his father did. Only two things work – development and guarantees. It is a message from the people that allegations should stop, and concentration should be on work. This is the beginning, and we will come back to power in 2028,” said an upbeat Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar.

Opposition parties made several allegations against Chief Minister, Ministers and government but the false allegations never worked for BJP and JDS, said Mr Shivakumar.

“Kamala (lotus) should be in the lake, JDS must be in field (a pun on the JDS symbol). You should see your face in the mirror that now people rejected your allegations which you made on Chief minister. In Shiggaon, in Sandur and in Channapattana people have rejected the statements made by the BJP and NDA leaders. Their alliance will never work in Karnataka,” he added.

Congress’ Annapoorna Tukaram bested BJP’s Bangara Hanumantha in Sandur.

Bengaluru:

Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel HD Kumaraswamy and his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy got relief from the Karnataka High Court in connection with the FIR registered against him based on the complaint by Lokayukta SIT ADGP M Chandrashekar.

The High Court bench passed the order on Wednesday while looking into the petition by Kumaraswamy seeking quashing of the FIR. ADGP Chandrashekhar has registered the complaint against Union Minister Kumaraswamy at Bengaluru’s Sanjaynagar Police Station.

The High Court has ordered that no coercive action be taken against him and granted him interim relief.

Senior counsel Hashmat Pasha, appearing for Kumaraswamy, argued that the police are attempting to cancel a 10-year-old anticipatory bail by reviving the case.

The High Court ruled that the FIR cannot be used to revoke old anticipatory bail. Additionally, the High Court recorded a statement from the State Public Prosecutor (SPP) that no coercive measures would be taken against Kumaraswamy in this matter.

Karnataka Police had registered an FIR against Kumaraswamy, on Tuesday as per the directions of a court.

Senior IPS officer Chandrashekar had accused Kumaraswamy of defaming and threatening him and his family.

Sanjaynagar police in Bengaluru had registered the FIR against Kumaraswamy.

The FIR is registered under Section 224 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023.

The police have named Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Kumaraswamy as the second accused in the case.

C B Suresh Babu, the JD-S party floor leader in the Legislative Assembly is named as the third accused in the case.

The police had taken a non-cognisable miscellaneous case.

Chandrashekar had approached the court demanding registration of an FIR against Kumaraswamy.

Chandrashekar, in his complaint to the court, had alleged that he had been heading the SIT team probing a case of illegal mining in 2014 – case no. 16/2014 and after getting additional evidence in the case, the investigating team had sought sanction of prosecution from the Governor recently.

In response to this, HD Kumaraswamy held a press conference on September 28 and 29 – where the minister made malicious accusations, threatening the IPS officer and his family members.

The IPS officer, in his complaint to the court, alleged that Kumaraswamy orally threatened him that he would be shunted to another state cadre and also made ill-intended allegations against his family members.

In reply to the charges, Chandrashekar wrote a letter to his staff and refuted all allegations calling it false and malicious.

Chandrashekar concluded his letter by quoting George Bernard Shaw’s famous lines, “Never wrestle with a pig because you’ll both get dirty, and the pig likes it.”

Kumaraswamy expressed outrage on Tuesday, calling the FIR filed against him based on a complaint by a senior IPS officer, Lokayukta SIT chief, M. Chandrashekar as “ridiculous and malicious.”

Kumaraswamy responded to media questions, saying, “During this by-election, the Congress-led state government is targeting us out of sheer animosity. I will respond to this through the judiciary.”

“I have read the FIR and the complaint’s content. It is completely ridiculous and clearly malicious. The complainant has stated that I allegedly made accusations against him in a press conference and has asked for action. Did I provide false information about him? He can review my press conference video if he wants,” said the Union Minister.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)