BJP grabs North West Graduates' constituency

Belagavi: With 43,605 votes, Hanumanth Nirani of the BJP won the North West Graduates' constituency, wresting the seat from the Congress.
Congress candidate Mahantesh Koujalagi was able to secure 23,518 votes while M P Nadagouda of the JD(U), who has represented the constituency four consecutive times before his defeat in 2010, was polled 3,536 votes.
Nadagouda has represented the graduate constituency from 1986 to 2010 under the banner of Janata Dal, Janata Dal (U), and in alliance with BJP.
The constituency spans over Vijayapura, Belagavi and Bagalkot districts.
Interestingly, there were 10,455 invalid votes owing to lack of knowledge on preferential voting system.
BSY impact
Currently representing Sunaga in the Bagalkot zilla panchayat, Hanumanth, brother of former industries minister Murugesh Nirani, contested from the constituency for the first time.
His win is being credited to the efforts of state BJP president B S Yeddyurappa in cementing the differences between party leaders in Bagalkot and Vijayapura. During his visit to Bagalkot district, Yeddyurapa had told some former MLAs to shun their differences with the Nirani family. The reluctance of Belagavi district Congress leaders to support Koujalagi also favoured the prospects of Hanumanth.
The highest polling was recorded in Bagalkot (54.62%) while in Vijayapura distrct it was 49.24%.
In previous elections, a Bagalkot based dominant education institution which has presence in parts of Belagavi used to support Dr. MP Nadagouda, however this time equations of politics have changed just because of the strong message passed by BS Yediyurappa. This apart, the BLDE education institution which has larger chunk of votes in Vijayapur district also supported Hanumanth Nirani by shunning Dr. MP Nadagouda.