BengaluruJul 30, 2025 16:02 IST
First published on: Jul 30, 2025 at 15:53 IST
THE CONGRESS Wednesday announced a protest in Bengaluru on August 4, culminating with a submission to the Election Commission, over its claims of “vote theft” in a constituency in Karnataka in last year’s Lok Sabha polls. Rahul Gandhi, who has been raising the issue of alleged vote fraud, will be part of the protest.
Addressing reporters recently, Gandhi had said: “In Karnataka, we have found ‘bhayankar chori (massive theft)’. I will show it in black and white to you and the Election Commission.” He said the Congress had done a six-month “deep dive” into one constituency’s voting and results, and “uncovered their whole system, how they do it, who votes, and from where new voters are brought”.
Following Gandhi’s statement, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar claimed to have made a detailed investigation regarding voting in the Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha constituency, and said a lot of “golmaal” was done there.
So why did Shivakumar raise Bangalore Rural?
Bangalore Rural was one of the most-watched contests in Karnataka during the Lok Sabha polls, with Shivakumar’s brother and sitting MP D K Suresh fighting to retain his seat.
The BJP candidate was first-timer C N Manjunath, a renowned cardiologist and, more importantly, the son-in-law of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda.
The import of who won went beyond the seat as Bangalore Rural had been considered the dominion of the DK brothers for over a decade. While Shivakumar has represented Kanakapura, one of the eight Assembly seats that comes under the Bangalore Rural parliamentary seat in the past, Suresh had won the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the seat.
Similarly, the seat was crucial for the Deve Gowdas, the JD(S) first family, as the constituency was once seen as a Vokkaliga bastion of the party. Both H D Deve Gowda and son and ex-CM H D Kumaraswamy have been elected from Bangalore Rural at different points in the past. Shivakumar’s rise as a Vokkaliga strongman rivalling the Deve Gowdas added another layer to the contest.
During the Lok Sabha campaign, the BJP-JD(S) went all out in Bangalore Rural, holding public meetings and door-to-door campaigns.
Their efforts paid off as Manjunath beat Suresh by over 2 lakh votes – a stunning reversal from 2019 and 2014, when Suresh had defeated his BJP rivals by similar margins.
The BJP later said the result was not a surprise to the party at all. Its Ramanagara district president Anandaswamy said the alliance was able to cash in on three major factors: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 10-year track record, Deve Gowda’s popularity, and Manjunath’s service as a cardiologist.
For Shivakumar, Suresh’s defeat was personally a setback too, in his barely concealed push to become the CM.