Bengaluru, May 4 -- The ruling Congress scored a resounding political victory in the Karnataka Assembly bypolls on Monday, retaining Bagalkot with a record-breaking margin and wresting Davanagere South after a dramatic turnaround, dealing a significant setback to the BJP in two prestige battles.
The bypolls, triggered by the deaths of senior Congress legislators HY Meti in Bagalkot and Shamanur Shivashankarappa in Davanagere South, were widely viewed as a crucial test of political strength for both the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government and the opposition BJP.
In Bagalkot, Congress candidate and political debutant Umesh Meti delivered a crushing defeat to BJP heavyweight and three-time MLA Veerabhadrayya Charantimath, winning by a massi...