 "Karnataka elections 2023: 13 of 25 contesting BJP ministers trailing")
As many as 13 of the 28 ministers of the Bharatiya Janata Party government were trailing in the Karnataka Assembly elections, according to early trends from the Election Commission of India. In all, 25 ministers were fielded in the election.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai was leading in the Shiggaon seat, major irrigation minister Govind Karjol was leading in Mudhol, law minister JC Madhuswamy in Chikkanayakanahalli, higher education minister CN Ashwath Narayan in Malleswaram.
Among those who were trailing, revenue minister R Ashoka, who contested two seats, was leading in Padmanabhanagar in Bengaluru, a seat that he won in 2018, but was behind in Kanakapura, where he was pitted against Congress heavyweight DK Shivakumar.
Transport and ST welfare minister B Sreeramulu was trailing in the Ballari seat to the incumbent Congress MLA B Nagendra. Sreeramulu had changed his seat in this election from Molakalmuru last time.
Meanwhile, housing minister V Somanna was trailing in both the seats he contested. He was fielded in the Varuna constituency against former chief minister Siddaramaiah and in Chamarajanagar against incumbent MLA C Puttaranga Shetty. Somanna had won in 2018 from the Govindraj Nagar seat.
More From This Section
Large industries minister Murugesh Nirani was trailing in the Bilgi constituency.
The outgoing Karnataka Cabinet had nine members who had switched from the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) in 2019, helping the BJP come to power.
Five of those ministers were trailing in the early trends. Cooperation minister ST Somashekar was trailing Yesvantpur in Bengaluru city, agriculture minister BC Patil in Hirekerur, health minister Dr K Sudhakar in the Chikkaballapur seat, MTB Nagarj in Hosakote, and KC Narayana Gowda in Krishnarajpete.
Meanwhile, labour minister A Shivaram Hebbar was leading in the Yellapur seat in the Uttara Kannada district, urban development minister BA Basavaraj in KR Puram, excise minister K Gopalaiah in Mahalakshmi Layout, and Munirathna in the Rajarajeshwari Nagar seat, all of which are in Bengaluru city.