The Bye-polls results in two assembly constituencies in Karnataka on Thursday left the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) red-faced, but it claimed this will not affect BJP's prospects in 2018 assembly elections.
Talking to media after results of Nanjangud and Gundlupet assembly seats were announced, red-faced Karnataka State BJP Chief B. S. Yeddyurappa said he didn't expect such a defeat.
He said the state party unit would study the reasons behind the defeat.
"We will study both the constituencies at the booth level to ascertain the reason for the defeat. We must learn the lesson as to why did party lose despite almost all top leaders working very hard continuously for 23-24 days," said the BJP leader.
He said although the BJP lost, but its vote percentage had increased from 38 percent to 41 percent.
"In Gundlupet, it increased from 43 percent to 46 percent in comparison with last year."
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Polling for the Nanjangud and Gundlupet Assembly seats was held on April 9. Congress's Kalale N Keshavamurthy has defeated V Srinivasa Prasad of the Bharatiya Janata Party by over 20,000 votes in Nanjangud. Congress' candidate Geeta Mahadev Prasad won in Gundlupet by around 12,000 votes. She defeated BJP's C S Niranjan Kumar by over 10,000 votes.
The bye-poll for the Nanjangud was necessitated after veteran Congress leader V Srinivas Prasad resigned in December 2016 to protest his expulsion from the Siddaramaiah led Congress Cabinet.
The Gundlupet seat fell vacant after the death of MLA H C Mahadeva Prasad on January 3. Prasad was the Minister of Cooperation and Sugar in the Siddaramaiah cabinet.