Bengaluru gets its first ever woman MP as BJP's Shobha Karandlaje wins

Bengaluru: The country’s IT hub Bengaluru got its first ever woman Lok Sabha member as BJP leader and Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje on Tuesday won by a margin of 2,59,476 votes from Bengaluru North constituency defeating Congress candidate M V Rajeev Gowda.

The 57-year-old Karandlaje had replaced MP, D V Sadananda Gowda, as a BJP candidate in Bangalore North, a party stronghold for a long time.

According to the Election Commission, Karandlaje secured 9,86,049 votes, while Gowda got 7,26,573.

During campaigning, the Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare also courted controversy after she alleged that a person from Tamil Nadu was responsible for the IED blast at the Rameshwaram Cafe here on March one.

Following her alleged statement, DMK, the ruling party in Tamil Nadu, had sought action against her and subsequently, she was booked for alleged model code violation over her remarks.

While Karandlaje sought to ride on the Modi factor, Gowda, a national spokesperson of the Congress and a former Rajya Sabha member, who contested Lok Sabha polls for the first time, was banking heavily on the five guarantee schemes launched by the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government to pay him rich electoral dividends.

Karandlaje had won from Udupi-Chikmagalur seat twice — in 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.