Karnataka's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday bagged all the three Assembly bypolls held April 9, wresting two from the Congress and one from the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S).
BJP's C.P. Yogeshwar won by 12,000 votes in Channapatna in Ramanagarm district, S.V. Ramachandra bagged Jagalur in Davangere district by 4,433 votes and M. Narayanswamy took the Bangarpet seat in Kolar district by 4,044 votes. The bypolls were held following the resignation of two Congress and one JD-S law makers who quit their seats and their parties to join the BJP. chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, battling corruption charges and dissidence against him, said "the voters have taught a lesson to opposition for leveling baseless charges against me".
The three wins take BJP's strength in the 225-member Assembly, including one nominated, to 109. The ruling party has the support of one independent candidate. The Congress strength remains at 71 and JD-S 26. There are 17 vacancies in the Assembly — 16 from disqualification of 11 BJP and five independent law makers. They were disqualified after they withdrew support to the Yeddyurappa government in October 2010. One JD-S law maker resigned in March 2011 and joined the BJP.