In a significant victory for the Janata Dal (Secular) [JD(S)], party president and former Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has been declared the winner of the Mandya constituency.
Kumaraswamy, running as a National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate, secured the seat with a margin of 284,620 votes, defeating Congress candidate Venkataramane Gowda. He maintained a lead throughout 18 rounds of counting, winning with a total of 851,881 votes.
Kumaraswamy’s victory marks a turnaround for his family in Mandya. His son, Nikhil Kumaraswamy, contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from this constituency but lost to Sumalatha Ambareesh, an independent candidate backed by the BJP. Nikhil also faced defeat in the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections from the Ramanagara constituency, losing to Congress’ H A Iqbal Hussain.
JDS candidate M Mallesh Babu also secured victory for the NDA from the…