BJP wins BBMP bypoll

Ahead of the Assembly polls in the State, the BJP received a shot in the arm on Wednesday when its candidate Vijaya S S Prasad won the A Narayanapura ward byelection by defeating her nearest rival Congress candidate B A Gopal with a margin of 393 votes.

The poll was conducted on Sunday where about 14,000 voters out of 28,000 exercised their franchise. The counting of votes took place on Tuesday amid tight security at the Krishnaraja Puram First Grade College at 8 am and concluded by 10 am.

Vijaya, who won the elections secured 7,047 votes while Gopal got 6,654 votes, C Ramesh of CPM got 370 votes, Independent candidate K Kumar bagged 136 votes while JD(S) candidate Syed Bakhtiyar got only 135 votes.

“The bypoll and the counting took place peacefully. In view of the election code of conduct effective in the State, members of the winning candidates too maintained caution and refrained from wild celebration,” said an officer on election duty.

Win-win situation

The Narayanapura ward bypoll was necessitated after the Karnataka High Court disqualified the sitting corporator S S Prasad for submitting false caste certificate to contest the election from a ward which is reserved for Backward Caste (A) category.
Prasad fielded his wife Vijaya S S Prasad in the byelection.