Bengaluru: The BJP’s decision to field a new face instead of Tejaswini Ananth Kumar from the Bengaluru South Lok Sabha constituency is expected to help the Congress wrest the constituency away for the first time since the 1991 elections. If sources in the BJP are to be believed, Ananth Kumar’s supporters are expected to exercise the NOTA option.

According to party sources, several hundreds of their local leaders, who work at the block level, have communicated to the RSS leaders that they will not vote for Tejaswi Surya, the BJP’s candidate. Instead, they will opt for NOTA.

A Congress leader said B K Hariprasad, who is the OBC face of the party, is expected to enter the Lok Sabha for the first time through this election. “The BJP leaders decided to stay neutral. Only a ‘Modi-wave’ can save the BJP candidate,” he said.