Bangalore: Karnataka’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), won five out of eight seats in crucial by-elections, cementing its hold in the state’s legislative assembly where it had been short of an outright majority by three seats since May.

The BJP now has 115 out of 224 assembly seats.

One of the bypolls, at Maddur, was held following the death of a sitting Janata Dal (Secular), or JD(S), member of the legislative assembly while the remaining seats— Arabhavi, Hukkeri, Karwar, Deodurg, Turuvekere, Madhugiri and Doddaballapura—had fallen vacant when legislators from opposition parties Congress and JD(S) defected to the BJP, helping it form a government.

Four of the defectors who won are already ministers in chief minister B.S.Yeddyurappa’s cabinet while another winner is chairman of the Karnataka Slum Clearance Board, a state-run entity.

“This is a positive vote for stability and development,” said Yeddyurappa. It would be an indicator for the Lok Sabha polls, he added.

The BJP holds 18 of Karnataka’s 28 parliamentary seats. National election is due in April-May.

The JD(S), a party led by former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda, won the remaining three seats, leaving the Congress winless.

“The Congress has not yet woken up from its defeat in the (May) 2008 elections,” notes Sandeep Shastri, a Bangalore-based political analyst.

The second largest party in the Karnataka assembly, the Congress has been dogged by internal bickering that saw several leaders, including party parliamentarians, such as M.H. Ambareesh, R.L. Jalappa and Tejasvini Gowda, stay away from the bypolls. Jalappa’s son J. Narasimhaswamy, was the BJP’s winning candidate in the Doddaballapur bypoll.

“The party workers have unitedly fought the elections, but I admit I have some problems with our leaders, especially Siddaramaiah, who was the election campaign committee chairman,” said R.V. Deshpande, president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee.

However, Deshpande claim-ed the bypoll results will have no bearing on the parliamentary elections.

“We are taking some hard decisions that will bring unity to the party and discipline it,” he said.

Meanwhile, the JD(S) expects its victory in three constituencies to act as a morale booster.

“JD(S) is the only alternative and effective opposition to the ruling party,” claimed Y.S.V.Datta, the party spokesman.

The bypolls also marks the entry of Deve Gowda’s daughter-in-law Anita Kumaraswamy into Karnataka politics—the fourth member from the Gowda family to do so. She won on a JD(S) ticket from Madhugiri constituency.