Despite Sex Crime Allegations, Prajwal Revanna Leads From Hassan

Prajwal Revanna had gone to Germany a day after polling took place in his constituency.

Even the emergence of the tapes where Prajwal Revanna is allegedly seen sexually assaulting several women has not prevented him from leading in the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency - where he is the sitting MP - early trends suggest.

As of 11.42 am, the Janata Dal Secular leader is ahead of his closest competitor, Shreyas Patel of the Congress, by close to 2,600 votes. He had won the constituency with a margin of over 1.4 lakh in the 2019 general elections.

The videos showing Prajwal Revanna, who is the grandson of former Prime Minister Deve Gowda and nephew of former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, had begun surfacing on April 23, three days before polling in the constituency. As the row escalated, the Hassan MP had left for Germany on April 27, a day after voting took place.

A Special Investigation Team was formed to investigate the charges and a Blue Corner notice was also issued to help trace the MP, but he remained elusive. Finally, after fervent appeals and a warning from Mr Gowda and Mr Kumaraswamy, the JDS leader returned to India and was arrested in the early hours of May 31.

He was taken to a city hospital for a medical check-up and then to a court for his remand hearing. The police had sought his custody for 14 days but it was granted till Thursday.

Days before returning, Mr Revanna had released a video statement on X in which he had said, "I apologise to my parents... I was in depression (over political rivals' attacks on the sex assault charges). I will appear (before the police team) on May 31. I will cooperate to the best of my abilities... I have the blessings of God..."

The Janata Dal Secular is contesting the Lok Sabha elections in an alliance with the BJP and is, so far, ahead on three seats. It had won only from Hassan the last time.

The BJP had won 25 constituencies last time and is leading on 17 so far. The Congress is up from one in 2019 to leading in eight, but, if the numbers hold, it will still be disappointed because it had won the Assembly elections convincingly in 2023, winning 135 of the 224 constituencies. Winning in eight seats would mean that it has not been able to translate the Assembly victory into huge gains in the Lok Sabha election.