Bagalkot: In a triumphant electoral debut, Umesh Meti, son of former MLA H Y Meti, whose death necessitated the byelection to the Bagalkot Assembly seat, won the seat his father had held, defeating BJP veteran and three-time MLA Veeranna Charantimath by a margin of 22,322 votes.

Umesh polled 98,919 votes to Charantimath's 76,587 votes, handing the latter his third defeat in six outings at the hustings. Given that results in byelections, more often than not, tend to swing in the ruling party's favour, Umesh's victory was not wholly unexpected.

However, the Congress left no stone unturned in ensuring its candidate's victory, treating the bypoll as a prestige battle, with a phalanx of senior ministers being deployed for the campaign.

Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi, who was put in charge of Congress's campaign in Bagalkot, camped in the constituency for nearly two months, overseeing a massive outreach effort.

A markedly higher turnout in the rural pockets of the seat (82%), compared to the urban centres (48%), too helped tilt the scales in Umesh's favour since rural voters have traditionally been a strong base of the Congress party. The lower turn-out in the urban pockets, coupled with the women factor, appears to have played a decisive role in shaping the outcome of the battle.

Bagalkot district holds a special place in Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's heart given that he secured a narrow victory in Badami in the 2018 Assembly election against BJP's B Sriramulu, despite losing the Chamundeshwari seat in his home district Mysuru.