It's victory afterall; margins not important: DV

The total number of votes gained by D V Sadananda Gowda is 4,01,441 includes the 626 votes through postal ballot. Congress candidate Jayaprakash Hedge polled 3,74,423 including the 296 postal ballots. Third Front candidate Radha Sundaresh gained 24,991 votes. The total number of votes polled during the elections in the entire constituency was 8,34,240 (68.47% polling). The BSP candidate J Steven John Menezes received 9,971 votes.

Speaking to the media shortly after the results were announced BJP State President and the winning candidate D V Sadananda Gowda said that a victory is after all victory and has nothing to do with winning margins. It is the triumph of the party workers and the leadership. Congress, JD(S) and Communist parties tried their maximum to pull the legs of BJP overlooking their existence. But all went in vain. However, there is a need for the hindsight to analyse the factors for the lower winning margin since the party had expected the win with a huge margin of more than 50,000 votes. Discussions will be held at booth level and the causes will be scrutinised, he added.

He said the big coffee planters in Chikmagalur belt supported Congress and BJP was favoured by labour class and small coffee planters. This may be one of the reasons for the victory with fewer margins, he opined.

Declining to comment on Party’s rebel candidate Ram Bhat’s debacle in the poll, Gowda said people have given their verdict to Ram Bhat and refused to comment further on the issue. The internal conspiracy of Congress and JD(S) has not remained a secret. It is all out with H D Kumaraswami’s visit with Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, he said.

Congress candidate Jayaprakash Hegde was not available for comments. Speaking to media, Congress District President M A Gafoor said that the party may have suffered tragedy in the coastal belt but has achieved a large success at the national level and it is the public verdict supporting Sonia Gandhi’s leadership. The party has given tough fight to BJP in Udupi-Chikmagalur constituency. Self-retrospection will be done in the direction to analyse the defeat. Naxal prone areas have gone in favour of the BJP, he added.

Celebrations

A jubilant mood prevailed in the BJP ring even though the winning margin did not match the expectations. The workers of the saffron party had to limit the celebrations to the borders of the party office premises. Even though some shouted slogans and ‘Vande Matharam’ outside the counting centre once the victory of D V Sadananda Gowda was known by 12.30 pm, police were capable to hold back the victory celebrations and situation came back to normalcy within a few minutes.  BJP organised a thanksgiving ceremony at the party district office at Kadiyali. More than 300 people gathered for the celebrations. Fire crackers were banned and the celebrations were more rumbling and were a low key affair. Victory processions were not held. Some rural areas bordering the district celebrated the victory of D V Sadananda Gowda by bursting fire crackers and shouting slogans.