India
oi-Prakash KL
Bharatiya Janata Party candidate CK Ramamurthy was on Saturday declared winner in Jayanagar constituency, defeating his Congress rival Sowmya Reddy by 16 votes.
However, the announcement was made after much drama as the Congress had staged protest over EC’s decision to hold a recount. The BJP candidate reportedly asked for a recounting that put the brakes for celebration among Reddy’s supporters.
The confusion erupted because of the 160 postal ballots out of 850 were without the seal, according to a report in The Times of India.
Earlier, the poll panel ordered recounting of postal ballots in Jayanagar where Reddy is in close contest with BJP’s CK Ramamurthy.
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Congress state president D K Shivakumar and party working president Ramalinga Reddy among other office bearers staged a demonstration in protest against the electoral body’s order.
Of the total 224 seats in Karnataka, Jayanagar is the only segment where the result has not yet come out.
Meanwhile, the Congress has returned to power in Karnataka by winning over 135 seats. The ruling BJP is reduced to 65 seats while the JDS came the distant third by securing 19 seats.
As many as 14 ministers of the outgoing Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government lost the Karnataka Assembly elections, the counting for which was taken up on Saturday. They are: Govinda Karjol (Mudhol), J C Madhuswamy (Chikkanayakanahalli), B C Patil (Hirekerur), Shankar Patil Munena Koppa (Navalgund), Halappa Achar (Yelburga) and B Sriramulu (Ballari), K Sudhakar (Chikkaballapur), B C Nagesh (Tiptur), Murugesha Nirani (Bilgi), B C Patil (Hirekerur) and M T B Nagaraj (Hoskote.
