Bangalore, Aug. 21: Call it the trial of dynasty politics.

For 36 years, Mallikarjuna Kharge never lost an Assembly election, and after a record ninth consecutive win from Karnataka’s Gulbarga district, he turned to Parliament.

But the Union labour minister’s son had no such luck today as results were declared in five constituencies where byelections were held earlier this week.

Priyank Kharge, 30, the Congress candidate for the Chittapur seat which his father vacated in May, lost his debut election to the BJP by 1,606 votes.

“It (the defeat) has come as a rude shock,” said Karnataka Congress chief R.V. Deshpande. “We still do not know what the reason was.”

Kharge, a veteran Dalit leader, had changed his constituency to Chittapur from adjoining Gurmitkal, from where he had won eight times, in the 2008 Assembly polls because of delimitation.

Priyank lost to the BJP’s Valmiki Nayak, whom his father had defeated in 2008.

Of the five seats that went to polls — Chittapur, Govindrajnagar, Ramanagaram, Channapatna and Kollegal — four had been vacated by Congressmen who won parliamentary elections or defected to the BJP.