By-elections to fifteen state assembly constituencies were held in Karnataka on 5 December 2019, and results were announced on 9 December. As the ruling party, BJP needed to win six of the 15 seats to maintain its majority. BJP won 12 seats, Congress won two, JD(S) failed to open its account, and one seat was won by a rebel BJP leader who contested as an independent.
Election schedule Scheduled By-elections to fifteen state assembly constituencies were originally to be held on 21 October 2019 together with Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly elections. The counting of votes was to be on 24 October 2019.
EventDateDay Date for nominations 23 Sep 2019 Monday Last date for filing nominations 30 Sep 2019 Monday Date for scrutiny of nominations 1 Oct 2019 Tuesday Last date for withdrawal of candidatures 3 Oct 2019 Thursday Date of poll 21 Oct 2019 Monday Date of counting 24 Oct 2019 Thursday Date before which the election shall be completed 24 Oct 2019 Sunday
Rescheduled The Election Commission on 27 September rescheduled the by-elections to 15 Karnataka assembly constituencies to 5 December, and would declare the results no later than 11 December.
EventDateDay Date for nominations 11 Nov 2019 Monday Last date for filing nominations 18 Nov 2019 Monday Date for scrutiny of nominations 19 Nov 2019 Tuesday Last date for withdrawal of candidatures 21 Nov 2019 Thursday Date of poll 5 Dec 2019 Thursday Date of counting 9 Dec 2019 Monday Date before which the election shall be completed 11 Dec 2019 Wednesday
List of candidates ConstituencyBJPINCJD(S)3Athani Mahesh Kumathalli Gajanan Bhalachandra MangasuliDid not contest4Kagwad Shrimant Patil Bharamgouda Alagouda Kage Kallappa Paris Magennavar9Gokak Ramesh Jarkiholi Lakhan Laxmanrao JarkiholiDid not contest81Yellapur Arbail Shivaram Hebbar Bhimanna T. Naik Ravindra A. Naik86Hirekerur B. C. Patil B. H. BannikodDid not contest87Ranibennur Arunkumar Guttur K. B. KoliwadDid not contest90Vijayanagara Anand Singh V. Y. Ghorpade N. M. Nabi141Chikballapur K. Sudhakar M. Anjinappa M. Radhakrishna151K. R. Pura Byrati Basavaraj M. Narayanaswamy C. Krishnamurthy153Yeshvanthapura S. T. Somashekhar T. N. Javarayi Gowda P. Nagaraj156Mahalakshmi Layout K. Gopalaiah M. Shivaraju Girish K. Nashi162Shivajinagar M. Saravana Rizwan Arshad Tanveer Ahmed Ullah178Hosakote M. T. B. Nagaraj Padmavathi SureshDid not contest192Krishnarajpete Narayana Gowda K. B. Chandrashekar B. L. Devaraj212Hunasuru Adagur H. Vishwanath H. P. Manjunath Devarahalli Somashekara
Surveys and polls Seat projections Poll type Publishing date Polling agency Majority BJP INC JD(S) OthersExit polls5 December 2019Karnataka Power TV8-123-60-20-11-5BTV93212Public TV8-103-51-20-11-3
Results Results by party PartyVote shareVotesSeats%+/-%No.+/-No.%+/-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 50.3218.821,291,049457,6961280.0012Indian National Congress (INC) 31.5013.96808,114394,560213.339Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S))11.904.87305,307138,32500.003Uttama Prajaakeeya Party (UPP)0.430.4310,92810,92800.000Karnataka Rashtra Samithi (KRS)0.110.112,7142,71400.000Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)0.090.092,4172,41700.000Independent (IND) 4.272.01109,53049,85216.671Others0.382.849,67175,53100.001None of the Above (NOTA) 0.940.1724,0733,599Source: Karnataka CEO
Results by constituency S.noAssembly constituencyWinnerRunner-upMarginNo.NameCandidatePartyVotesCandidatePartyVotes13AthaniMahesh KumathalliBharatiya Janata Party99,203Gajanan Bhalachandra MangasuliIndian National Congress59,21439,98924Kagwad Shrimant Balasaheb PatilBharatiya Janata Party76,952Bharamgouda Alagouda KageIndian National Congress58,39518,55739Gokak Jarkiholi Ramesh LaxmanraoBharatiya Janata Party87,450Lakhan Laxmanrao Jarkiholi Indian National Congress58,44429,006481Yellapur Arabail Hebbar ShivaramBharatiya Janata Party80,442Bhimanna T. NaikIndian National Congress49,03431,408586Hirekerur B.C. PatilBharatiya Janata Party85,562Bannikod Basappa HanumantappaIndian National Congress56,49529,067687RanebennurArunkumar Guththur (M M P)Bharatiya Janata Party95,438K B KoliwadIndian National Congress72,21623,222790VijayanagaraAnand SinghBharatiya Janata Party85,477V.Y. Ghorpade Indian National Congress55,35230,1258141ChikkaballapurK. SudhakarBharatiya Janata Party84,389M. AnjanappaIndian National Congress49,58834,8019151KrishnarajapuramB.A.BasavarajaBharatiya Janata Party1,39,879M.NarayanaswamyIndian National Congress76,43663,44310153YeshvanthapuraS. T. SomashekarBharatiya Janata Party1,44,722T.N. Javarayi GowdaJanata Dal (Secular)1,17,02327,69911156Mahalakshmi LayoutK GopalaiahBharatiya Janata Party85,889M. ShivarajuIndian National Congress31,50354,38612162ShivajinagarRizwan ArshadIndian National Congress49,890M. SaravanaBharatiya Janata Party36,36913,52113178HoskoteSharath Kumar BachegowdaIndependent81,671M T B NagarajBharatiya Janata Party70,18513,52114192KrishnarajpetNarayan GowdaBharatiya Janata Party66,094B. L. DevarajJanata Dal (Secular)56,3639,73115212HunsurH. P. ManjunathIndian National Congress92,725Adagur H. VishwanathBharatiya Janata Party52,99839,727
Gains by BJP The bypolls were required after 15 MLAs, from Congress and Janata Dal (S), resigned to bring down Kumaraswamy's coalition government.
BJP won 12 of the available 15 seats. After Roshan Beg from Shivajinagar had resigned, BJP did not allow him to join them; Beg was unable to contest the bypoll and Congress retained the seat.
From Hoskote, MTB Nagaraj resigned his seat and joined BJP, who had nominated him from his former seat. Nagaraj was challenged by a BJP rebel, who won the seat.
From Hunsur (Hunasuru), Adagur Vishwanath had previously won on JD(S) ticket, defeating Manjunath of Congress. Vishwanath resigned and contested as a BJP candidate, but Manjunath managed to win the seat for Congress.
See also Elections in Karnataka Government of Karnataka Karnataka Legislative Assembly
References