Rape Accused JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna Likely To Retain Karnataka's Hassan Seat: Exit Poll Projections

As per the exit poll projections, the Hassan MP is likely to defeat his contender, Congress candidate Shreyas Patel.

Patel is the grandson of former minister late G Puttaswamy Gowda, who fought on the Hassan seat against Prajwal's grandfather and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda.

Karnataka's Hassan constituency went to polls in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections, the time when Prajwal found himself in the middle of a sex tape scandal. Prajwal is facing rape and sexual harassment charges.

A Bengaluru court on Friday sent Prajwal to six-day police custody, till June 6, in the obscene video tapes case. He was arrested by the Karnataka Police upon his arrival at Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport earlier that day.

Notably, the Janata Dal (Secular) has had a stronghold on the Hassan seat since 2004. But the party is now under the radar over its unfulfilled promises, especially those related to irrigation projects.

In the 2019 general elections, when the JD(S) was in alliance with the Congress, Prajwal secured his victory against BJP candidat A Manju Hassan by a margin of 14 lakh votes.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, former PM and JD(S) chief HD Deve Gowda had defeated the Congress candidate from the seat by one lakh votes.

According to Axis My India exit poll projections for Karnataka, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is projected to win 23-25 seats, while the INDIA bloc is shown to bag 3-5 seats.

News18 and Times Now - ETG Research both projected 23-26 seats for NDA, 3-7 for Congress, while News Nation exit polls projected 18 for NDA and 10 for Congress.