Karnataka Elections 2024: Tejasvi Surya Advances in Bangalore South

Tejasvi Surya, BJP's youth wing chief, takes a massive lead of 2,65,649 votes against Congress's Sowmya Reddy in Bangalore South, a BJP bastion, reinforcing the party's dominance in the prestigious constituency.

In a style that could be termed thrilling the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) youth wing chief, Tejasvi Surya is leading in the Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency which is one of the most prestigious. According to the recent statistics available from the Election Commission of India, Surya is ahead of others with a total lead of 2,65,649 votes out of the nearest rival, Sowmya Reddy of the Congress party.

The 33-year-old firebrand leader, who is in the seat for the second time from the prestigious constituency, has distanced himself from his rivals. Surya’s spirited challenger Sowmya Reddy had lost the Karnataka State Assembly elections only last year by a margin of 16 votes.

The Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency is one of the BJP strongholds since 1991 when Ananth Kumar was first elected to the Lok Sabha till his demise in November 2018. Surya, who had been in the race for the first time in the 2019 general elections, secured 62 percent of the votes. He secured only a 2a % vote share and defeated Congress’s BK Hariprasad.

Surya completed his law graduation from the Bangalore Institute of Legal Studies and he began his political career with the Student wing of BJP, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). He has been the national president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) since September 2020.

However, Surya has not been out of the controversies in the campaign. In March this year, police registered a case against him based on n complaint by the Election Commission for posting messages on social media.

On the other hand, the Congress party's campaign in Bangalore South focused on four guarantees: The programs are ‘Gruha Lakshmi,’ ‘Gruha Jyoti,’ ‘Yuva Nidhi,’ and ‘Anna Bhagyave.

The Bangalore South Lok sabha constituency was established in the year 1977 having eight assembly constituencies namely Govindraj Nagar, Vijay Nagar, Chickpet, Basavanagudi, Padmanaba Nagar, BTM Layout, Jayanagar, and Bommanahalli. The constituency recorded 53% voter turnout. 15% in the second phase of the polling conducted on April 26.

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Tejasvi Surya’s categorical triumph in Bangalore South for the BJP is eyeing a third term at the Centre with Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister will boost the party’s prospects in Karnataka and the rest of the country.