Prajwal Revanna bites the dust, JD(S) loses family turf for the first time in 20 years

For the first time in 20 years, the JD(S) lost from its stronghold of Hassan with Prajwal Revanna, the sitting MP who is under arrest over cases of sexual assault, losing to Congress candidate Shreyas M Patil by 43,738 votes.

Prajwal, grandson of prime minister H D Deve Gowda and the son of former PWD minister and Holenarasipura MLA H D Revanna, was arrested on May 31 and is in the custody of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) until June 6. He had left the country on April 27, a day after Hassan voted. Two days before the voting, hundreds of pen drives had been distributed across Hassan containing more than 2,900 sex videos, allegedly recorded by the MP himself.

A police officer said Prajwal was allowed to watch television for news of the results, but walked out as his defeat appeared imminent. “Until the 10th round, there was a tight contest but after that, when it became clear that Shreyas Patil was winning, Prajwal walked out,” the officer said.

While a local leader JD(S) attributed the defeat to anti-incumbency, others say the circulation of the pen drives may have had an impact on the results.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, which the JD(S) contested on its own, Prajwal defeated A Manju of the BJP. A JD(S) leader in Hasan said, “Despite the BJP wave in the last Lok Sabha elections, Prajwal won by a margin of 1.41 lakh votes and he was the only JD(S) MP from the state and now, he has lost by a margin of more than 40,000 votes.”

Speaking to The Indian Express, a family member of one of the rape victims said they were happy with the results. “We all are happy that Prajwal Revanna lost the elections. He should also be punished for the crimes that he has committed. We don’t know if we will ever be able to lead normal lives,