Former minister K.S. Eshwarappa, who contested as an independent candidate in Shivamogga Lok Sabha seat, has lost his deposit.
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He secured 30,050 votes (2.18%) of the 13.7 lakh votes polled in the election held on May 7. As the votes he got were far less than one-sixth of the total votes polled, he will lose the deposit amount paid at the time of filing his nomination papers.
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Mr. Eshwarappa, 75, is one of the leaders who has been with the BJP since its initial days in Karnataka. He resigned from electoral politics ahead of the Assembly polls in May 2023, following instructions from the party’s leadership.
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He was hoping that the party would nominate his son, K.E. Kanthesh, in Haveri parliamentary seat. On being denied the ticket, he blamed former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa. He decided to contest as an independent in Shivamogga against the party’s official candidate, B.Y. Raghavendra, son of Mr. Yediyurappa.
As he rebelled against the party, Union Home Minister Amit Shah called Mr. Eshwarappa to meet him in Delhi. However, as he reached Delhi, the Union Minister cancelled the meeting.
During the campaign, he repeatedly said that he would treat the BJP as his mother and that he would return to the party fold soon after winning the Lok Sabha election. He used a photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the campaign. However, he could not make any impact in the election.
Eshwarappa, who represented the Shivamogga Assembly seat earlier, secured 12,154 votes in the constituency. In other constituencies, the votes he secured are — Shivamogga Rural – 5,555, Bhadravathi – 3,267, Tirthahalli – 2,529, Shikaripur – 1,969, Sorab – 415, Sagar – 778, Byndoor – 3,292, besides 91 postal ballot votes.