Bengaluru: Incumbent Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna, who is accused of rape and serial sex abuse, has lost against Congress’ Shreyas Patel.
Prajwal lost by 40,000 votes against Patel, which has helped Congress win the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency after 25 years. Patel had lost against Prajwal’s father H D Revanna from Holenarsipur in the Assembly polls last year.
Sex videos linked to Prajwal were widely circulated in Hassan just days ahead of polling on April 26. This might have contributed to Prajwal’s defeat. Also, a section of BJP leaders are said to have worked against Prajwal, which helped Patel win.
It was a fight between grandchildren of two veteran leaders in Hassan. Prajwal is the grandson of former prime minister and JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda. Patel’s grandfather G Puttaswamy Gowda had once defeated Deve Gowda to become the Hassan MP.
Reacting to the result, JD(S) state president HD Kumaraswamy, Prajwal’s uncle, expressed shock. “We didn’t expect this result. We’re not happy,” he said.
Soon after the BJP and JD(S) sealed their alliance, some saffron party leaders were unhappy, especially former Hassan MLA Preetham Gowda, who opposed Prajwal’s candidature.
In 2019, Deve Gowda bequeathed Hassan for Prajwal. In his maiden poll outing, Prajwal won by 1.41 lakh votes.
JD(S) leaders were confident that Prajwal would win in spite of the allegations against him.
Published 04 June 2024, 07:46 IST