Lingayat Votes

A Lingayat heavyweight, Mr Shettar lost to the BJP's Mahesh Tenginakai by over 34,000 votes but claimed his quitting the BJP and raising the pitch on the Lingayats helped the Congress in 20 to 25 seats.

The stepping down of BS Yediyurappa as the Chief Minister cost the BJP dear in the Karnataka assembly election in terms of Lingayat vote.

BJP candidate BY Vijayendra, the son of former Karnataka chief minister and Lingayat strongman BS Yediyurappa, today won the Shikaripura seat in his electoral debut by a margin of 11,008 votes.

The 75-year-old leader got 1,19,430 votes against 73,424 polled by his BJP rival and influential Lingayat leader V Somanna.

The BJP's last-minute move to consolidate its Lingayat support base did not pay off and the Congress made huge gains in the seats dominated by the influential community, trends in the counting of votes indicate.

Former Karnataka Chief Minister and Congress candidate from Hubli-Dharwad Central Assembly constituency Jagadish Shettar on Wednesday voted in SBI School in Madhura colony and said he would get elected with a huge margin.

As the Congress counts political dividends after two BJP leaders from the dominant Lingayat community joined it, ahead of the May 10 Assembly polls in Karnataka, the ruling party has sought to down play the desertion

Panchamasali Lingayats, who are the traditional vote bank of the BJP, have been demanding a hike in their reservation to nearly 15 percent, from the current 5 per cent.

Congress leader gets initiated into Lingayat sect; a seer predicts he'll be PM like grandmother and father, but head seer cuts in

Like anywhere in India, how people vote in Karnataka is complicated by other factors, caste being the most dominant, especially in non-urban areas.

The assembly election in Karnataka, due on May 12, is seen as a high stakes battle between Congress Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is going all out to win back the first southern state the party had ruled

One assembly seat in Karnataka has managed to remain the bellwether seat for a dozen elections -- assembly and Lok Sabha -- and is the most watched seat in the state. Shirahatti, named after a panchayat town in central Karnataka's Gadag district -- has managed to vote for the winning party in the state and centre. Its streak has continued for seven...

Setting up a show of strength in his own bastion, BJP's chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa today filed his nomination from Shikaripura for next month's Karnataka assembly elections, holding a road show and claiming that he would win the seat by of margin of at least 30,000 votes.

With less than a month to go for the assembly elections in Karnataka, politics over the state's Lingayat-Veerashaiva votes has found a new flashpoint - the birth anniversary of Basaveshwara, the 12th Century saint revered by both sects.

For nearly three decades, the Lingayats, a powerful upper caste group in Karnataka, have voted for the BJP, whose presumptive Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa is the most statured leader of the community. The prosperous Lingayats were believed till recently to form 17 per cent of the state's population and are governed by a cluster of about 1,000 math...

A Lingayat heavyweight, Mr Shettar lost to the BJP's Mahesh Tenginakai by over 34,000 votes but claimed his quitting the BJP and raising the pitch on the Lingayats helped the Congress in 20 to 25 seats.

The stepping down of BS Yediyurappa as the Chief Minister cost the BJP dear in the Karnataka assembly election in terms of Lingayat vote.

BJP candidate BY Vijayendra, the son of former Karnataka chief minister and Lingayat strongman BS Yediyurappa, today won the Shikaripura seat in his electoral debut by a margin of 11,008 votes.

The 75-year-old leader got 1,19,430 votes against 73,424 polled by his BJP rival and influential Lingayat leader V Somanna.

The BJP's last-minute move to consolidate its Lingayat support base did not pay off and the Congress made huge gains in the seats dominated by the influential community, trends in the counting of votes indicate.

Former Karnataka Chief Minister and Congress candidate from Hubli-Dharwad Central Assembly constituency Jagadish Shettar on Wednesday voted in SBI School in Madhura colony and said he would get elected with a huge margin.

As the Congress counts political dividends after two BJP leaders from the dominant Lingayat community joined it, ahead of the May 10 Assembly polls in Karnataka, the ruling party has sought to down play the desertion

Panchamasali Lingayats, who are the traditional vote bank of the BJP, have been demanding a hike in their reservation to nearly 15 percent, from the current 5 per cent.

Congress leader gets initiated into Lingayat sect; a seer predicts he'll be PM like grandmother and father, but head seer cuts in

Like anywhere in India, how people vote in Karnataka is complicated by other factors, caste being the most dominant, especially in non-urban areas.

The assembly election in Karnataka, due on May 12, is seen as a high stakes battle between Congress Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is going all out to win back the first southern state the party had ruled

One assembly seat in Karnataka has managed to remain the bellwether seat for a dozen elections -- assembly and Lok Sabha -- and is the most watched seat in the state. Shirahatti, named after a panchayat town in central Karnataka's Gadag district -- has managed to vote for the winning party in the state and centre. Its streak has continued for seven...

Setting up a show of strength in his own bastion, BJP's chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa today filed his nomination from Shikaripura for next month's Karnataka assembly elections, holding a road show and claiming that he would win the seat by of margin of at least 30,000 votes.

With less than a month to go for the assembly elections in Karnataka, politics over the state's Lingayat-Veerashaiva votes has found a new flashpoint - the birth anniversary of Basaveshwara, the 12th Century saint revered by both sects.

For nearly three decades, the Lingayats, a powerful upper caste group in Karnataka, have voted for the BJP, whose presumptive Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa is the most statured leader of the community. The prosperous Lingayats were believed till recently to form 17 per cent of the state's population and are governed by a cluster of about 1,000 math...