DV clinches expected victory

Cong yields after tough fight in Udupi-Chikmagalur constituency

The winning margin through which the Party’s State President D V Sadananda Gowda sealed his victory over the Congress candidate Jayaprakash Hegde was not up to probabilities sketched out by the BJP. The marginal difference was only 20,718 votes. D V Sadananda Gowda scored 4,01,441 votes in contrast to his nearest rival Jayaprakash Hedge who gained 3,74,423 votes. Congress candidate Jayaprakash Hegde was not far behind and the difference was not more than 5 to 7 thousand in the earlier rounds of counting.

The parliamentary constituency has eight assembly segments of which seven are the BJP forte. Karkala is the lone Congress segment in the constituency.

In Kundapur assembly segment, the total number of votes polled is 1,16,657. Here D V Sadananda Gowda got 60,174 votes and Jayaprakash Hegde gained 48,511 votes. The difference is 11,663. In Udupi assembly segment, the total number of votes polled is 1,12,597 where Gowda got 56,369 and Hegde polled 51,144. The difference is 5,225. In Kaup, the total number of votes polled is 94,803. D V got 43,842 and Hegde secured 46,381. The difference is 2,539. Here BJP had a setback even though the assembly segment is under its possession. In Karkala, the total number of votes polled is 1,05,645. Here Gowda gained 52,566 votes and Hedge got 47,272. The difference is 5,294 votes.
In Chikmagalur, all the four assembly segments are represented by BJP. In Sringeri, the total number of votes polled is 1,04,074. Here Gowda gained 48,259 while Hedge got 48,638. The difference is 379 with the Congress candidate in the lead. In Mudigere, the total number of votes polled is 97,894. D V Sadananda Gowda polled 41,189 votes and Jayaprakash Hegde 44,455, taking the lead of 3,266 votes. In Chikmagalur constituency, the number of votes polled is 1,06,846. Gowda got 51,163 votes and Hegde secured 46,748. The difference is 4,415. In Tarikere, the total number of votes polled is 95,276. D V Sadananda Gowda got 47,250 and Jayaprakash Hegde gained 40,978 numbers of votes. Gowda had the lead of 6,272 votes.

The victory of BJP is not a surprise outcome, but the verdict has let many expectations down. Congress announced the nominee at the last hour and its whirlwind campaigning programme has received a warm result since the verdict is not as disgusting as expected. The pre-poll preparations of BJP much ahead of the announcement of the polls have not yielded the optimum result. It was indeed a direct fight.

Third Front candidate Radha Sundaresh had no any major role to play with 24,991 votes to her credit.