It was almost a cakewalk for BJP’s Prahlad Joshi in Dharwad Lok Sabha constituency as he retained his seat trouncing his nearest rival Manjunath Kunnur of Congress by a huge margin of 1,35,663 votes. Joshi polled 4,46,786 votes while Kunnur could manage 3,09,123 votes.
By returning Joshi to the Lok Sabha for the second consecutive term, Dharwad constituency kept up its tradition of giving the sitting MP a minimum of two terms in a row. Joshi had won in 2004 against Congress candidate B S Patil by a margin of 83078 votes.
This time there were sixteen others in the fray. Independent Shankarappa Yadavannavar managed 6,502 votes while Kashimsab Mulla secured 5981.
A total of 7,98,294 voters had cast their votes on April 30. Of them 80 were rejected as invalid. The counting which began at the University of Agricultural Sciences in Dharwad at 8 AM on Saturday concluded at 2 pm. Returning officer and Dharwad deputy commissioner Darpan Jain announced the result officially and handed over the certificate to Joshi.
The BJP increased its share of votes by bagging 55.96 per cent of votes as against 47.50 in 2004 while the Congress’ share of votes stood at 38.72. It had managed to get 37.25 per cent of votes polled in 2004. Joshi kept the lead right from the beginning and maintained it till the end. Barring in Hubli-Dharwad East (SC) assembly segment Joshi gained lead over Kunnur in all other seven assembly segment including Shiggaon, Kunnur’s home town of Kunnur.
In Hubli-Dharwad East which has a sizable Muslim population, Kunnur secured 47810 votes while Joshi got 44470 votes. In Navalgund Joshi scored 49384 (Kunnur:40343) while in Kundgol Joshi had 48796 (Kunnur: 35107). The break up for other assembly segments is as follows: Dharwad; Joshi 57359, Kunnur 37757, Hubli-Dharwad Central Joshi 64188, Kunnur 38024, Hubli-Dharwad West: Joshi 66712, Kunnur 39311, Kalghatagi: Joshi 53691, Kunnur 36708, Shiggaon: Joshi 61864, Kunnur 34028. Manjunath Kunnur who had entered Lok Sabha in 2004 as BJP member from Dharwad South (now Haveri) constituency had shifted loyalty to Congress after he voted in favour of UPA government in the Trust vote in 2008. The Congress had reciprocated by giving him the ticket from Dharwad constituency.
Going by the records, no Lingayat contesting as Congress nominee has won in this constituency though Vijay Sankeshwar emerged victorious thrice as BJP candidate.
