JOIN USBJP triumphs in Teachers' seats too
The ruling party in the state, BJP, has managed to win three of the six seats on offering in elections to the Legislative Council from the Teachers’ and Graduates’ constituencies, while the Congress drew a blank.
The JD (S) has won a seat and is leading in another, as votes polled in the election held on June 10 were counted on Wednesday. The BJP too was leading in one more constituency.
Poll results for one of the closely watched constituencies – Bangalore Graduates’, was not out till late night. However, in the 10th round of counting of second preferential votes, JD (S) candidate A Deve Gowda was leading by 143 votes against BJP’s Ramachandra Gowda, former medical education minister, who resigned following a recruitment scam. For the senior BJP leader, it is his fifth contest for the Council.
The Congress again failed to make a mark in all six constituencies. In the preferential system of casting vote, a candidate has to secure a minimum of 50 per vote plus one vote, of the total votes polled. In two constituencies, the Congress did not reach even half the total votes polled.
The BJP has managed to score over its political rivals by retaining three seats, as its candidates won with ease. Chairman of Legislative Council D H Shankaramurthy, who contested for the fifth time, retained his seat from South West Graduates’ segment, while Ganesh Karnik of BJP won for the second time from South West Teachers’ constituency.
Shankaramurthy, who has been an MLC for 24 years, unlike in the past, did not maintain a comfortable lead against his nearest rival. while he secured 13,926 votes, his rival S P Dinesh of the Congress managed to bag 10,140 votes. S L Bhoje Gowda of JD (S) secured 6,875 votes.
Karnik polled 4,139 votes, a little less than the quota of 4,558, while Independent candidate K K Manjunath Kumar came second with 3,393 votes. C M Panchaksharaiah (JD-S) and Hosur Ramesh Joyappa (Cong) polled 1,111 and 627 votes respectively.
BJP candidate Y A Narayanswamy, who bagged the South-East Teachers’ Constituency, polled 10,152 votes, pushing the JD(S) candidate to the second place. K B Ramalingappa (Cong) got a mere 252 votes.
In the North-East Graduates' Constituency, Amarnath Patil (BJP) has established an unassailable lead in excess of 5,000 votes over Shivanand Bhimalli (Cong) when reports came in last. Marithibbe Gowda JD(S) scored a hat-trick, retaining the South Teachers’ segment by polling 10,384 votes, way above the quota of 7,066. His Congress rival, M Lakshmana, secured 5,612 votes, while S M Gurunanjaiah (BJP) was pushed to third place with 3,890 votes.
Counting took place amid tight security at Government Arts College in Bangalore; Gulbarga University in Gulbarga; and JSS College of Arts, Science and Commerce in Mysore.