Bengaluru: Congress has retained Karnataka’s Shorapur Assembly seat with the victory of its candidate Raja Venugopal Naik in the bypoll, thwarting the hopes of former minister and senior BJP leader Narasimha Naik aka Raju Gowda to enter the Vidhana Soudha.
Venugopal Naik secured 1.14 lakh votes while Raju Gowda managed to get 96,566 votes.
The bypoll in Shorapur was necessitated following the death of Congress MLA Raja Venkatappa Naik.
The Congress had allotted the ticket to Raja Venkatappa Naik’s son and sources explain sympathy and guarantee undercurrent worked in favour of Venugopal Naik.
The Shorapur Assembly segment is a part of the Raichur Lok Sabha seat, which was also won by Congress candidate G. Kumar Naik.
–IANS