Karnataka Elections 2023: Kudligi BJP MLA NY Gopalkrishna resigns, likely to join Congress

Ahead of the May 10 Assembly elections in Karnataka, Kudligi BJP MLA N Y Gopalakrishna has resigned from his post and is expected to switch to the Congress party.

He met Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri to submit his resignation.

Reports suggest that he had previously met with senior Congress leaders D K Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah for discussions.

Legislators jumping ships ahead of polls

Gopalakrishna was previously with the Congress and had won from the Molakalmuru Assembly segment in Chitradurga district four times. He joined the BJP in 2018 after not receiving a Congress ticket and won from Kudligi in Bellary district.

Recently, two MLCs from BJP and one JD(S) MLA have also joined the Congress. Shivakumar has hinted that there are more people looking to join the Congress, and their names will be revealed gradually in the days to come.

More about Kudligi constituency

Kudligi (ST) is a State Assembly/Vidhan Sabha constituency in the Bellary district and Central Karnataka region of Karnataka and is a part of the Bellary Parliamentary/Lok Sabha constituency.

The constituency has a total of 1,94,484 registered voters, including general voters, NRI voters, and service voters. Among the general voters, 99,023 are male, 95,425 are female, and 12 belong to other genders. The constituency's sex ratio is 96.34, and the approximate literacy rate is 68%.

Previous election results

In 2018 assembly elections, N Y Gopalakrishna, who contested on a BJP ticket from this constituency, defeated the JD(S) and Congress candidates.

Goplakrishna, securing 32.93% votes, defeated JDS (25.82%) and Congress (15.33%) candidates.

Gopalkrishna polled 50,085 from Kudligi constituency in 2018.

In the 2013 Karnataka Assembly Elections, IND won this seat with a margin of 24,803 votes (18.66%), securing 53.77% of the total votes polled. The voter turnout for that election was 78%.

In the 2008 Assembly Elections, BJP won this seat with a margin of 8,757 votes (7.8%), registering 48.52% of the votes polled. In the 2018 elections, the voter turnout for this seat was 52%.