Congress president Rahul Gandhi congratulated party workers for the victory of the Congress-JD(S) alliance in Karnataka on Tuesday. The 48-year-old Gandhi expressed his happiness with the results of the five seats where bypolls were held on 3 November.

“Congratulations to all the workers & leaders of the Congress party in Karnataka on the decisive victory of the Congress-JD(S) alliance in the By-Polls in the state,” he tweeted.

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“I thank each & every one of you, for your dedication & hard work that made this victory possible,” he added.

Congratulations to all the workers & leaders of the Congress party in Karnataka on the decisive victory of the Congress-JD(S) alliance in the By-Polls in the state. I thank each & every one of you, for your dedication & hard work that made this victory possible.

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) November 6, 2018

Of the three Lok Sabha seats for which bypolls were held, two were in saffron control and one, Mandya, was held by Janata Dal (Secular). Bypolls were also held for two assembly segments – Jamkhandi and Ramanagara. The Congress-JD(S) alliance won 4 of the 5 seats on which bypolls were held.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered a major blow just ahead of assembly elections in five states and Lok Sabha elections in 2019 as it lost Bellary, a bastion it held since 2004. The loss brings BJP’s total Lok Sabha tally to 271, down by 11 from 2014, in the 539-member Lower House.

Read More: BJP trounced by Congress-JD(S) force in Bellary | Coalition wins 4 of 5 seats

Congress’ VS Ugrappa defeated BJP’s J Shantha by a margin of 2,43,161 votes in Bellary. Shantha had been an MP from the same seat till 2014, when her brother, B Sriramulu, was elected to Parliament from the constituency in North Karnataka. Sriramulu had vacated the seat after he won from Molakalmuru in the Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018.

Congress held the Bellary seat from the time elections were held on this constituency till 2004 before Karunakar Reddy brought the BJP to power in the mining-rich district.

The BJP could retain only one of two Lok Sabha seats it held before the results. Shimoga, a traditional bastion of former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa, was won by his son BY Raghavendra with a margin of 52,148 votes defeating JD(S) nominee Madhu Bangarappa, the son of ex-chief minister S Bangarappa.

In Mandya, the third LS seat where bypolls were held, JD(S) nominee LR Shivaramegowda defeated BJP’s Dr Siddaramaiah by a margin of 3,24,943 votes. The constituency located in South Karnataka was previously represented in Parliament by JD(S)’s CS Puttaraju, who is now an MLA from Melkote and a minister in the Karnataka government.

In the two assembly segments, the Congress-JD(S) coalition completely thumped the BJP.

Congress’ AS Nyamagouda won Jamkhandi assembly seat with a margin of 39,480 votes. In Ramanagaram, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s wife Anitha Kumaraswamy won comfortably by a huge margin of 1,09,137 votes. She is the first woman MLA to have won from the seat.