It comes as no surprise that BJP lost in Puttur Assembly constituency. Ever since Ashok Kumar Rai and Arun Puthila quit the BJP, things went downhill for the saffron party in Puttur.
Earlier this year, Ashok Rai quit the BJP to join Congress. Arun Puthila on the other hand was a rebel ticket aspirant who quit the BJP after being denied a ticket and decided to contest as an independent candidate.
Following the first list of candidates released by BJP on April 11, Arun Kumar Puthila turned against the BJP but stood for an intensified ideology.
The BJP proceeded to hand the Puttur ticket to Asha Thimmappa. Not being able to retain Arun was the BJP’s major mistake in Coastal Karnataka.
However, it worked out well for the Congress as it was looking for a strong competitor in Puttur. As it was earlier predicted, Arun Puthila grabbed a major chunk of what was supposed to be the votes of BJP.
The toe-to-toe battle between Ashok Rai and Arun Puthila had resulted in victory for Ashok Rai eventually. Ashok won with a margin of little over 4,100 votes. Arun Puthila had raised a saffron wave greater than the BJP could think of raising in Puttur.
The support for Puthila was witnessed as an ocean of his supporters marched along his side as he went to submit his nomination. An estimated 10,000 residents of Puttur joined the procession, demonstrating their ardent support for Puthila’s candidacy.
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This election, the BJP’s votes were split by Ashok as well as Puthila. This led no room for BJP to even consider a chance to win.
Ashok won with an overall vote count of 66,607, leaving Puthila standing second with 62,458 total votes. Meanwhile, the BJP candidate, Asha Thimmappa could secure only 37,558 votes.
Coming to think of it, all these votes should have ideally gone to the BJP if they had given a thought about retaining rebel candidates. Ultimately, the saffron party lost its stronghold in Puttur. A constituency that the BJP lost only one time since 1994.