JOIN USHere we go: Welcome to Deccan Herald’s live coverage of the counting of votes for Bangalore Rural and Mandya parliamentary constituencies. The bypolls were held on August 21.There are 9 candidates contesting from Mandya and 13 from Bangalore Rural. But it is a straight fight between Congress and JD (S) candidates.
11:40 am:
Ramya also wins. Counting still on. But no chance of JD(S) to catch up. Will she go on to build a political career? Or, like many other stars, will she win and do a vanishing act?
11.30 am: Ramya leads by nearly 50,000 votes. Counting still on in Bangalore Rural. But JD(S) has no chance even if it gets each of the remaining votes. D K Suresh may win by over a lakh votes.
11:10 am: D K Suresh wins Bangalore Rural. Ramya is leading by over 40,000 votes. She is close to netting Mandya. It is 2:0 for Congress. Big performance by Congress.
10: 45 am: Have Bangalore Rural voters gone against JD (S)’s family obsessed politics? Or, have they been swayed by D K brothers superior resources. Both of them face serious allegations. The support of SP MLA Yogeeshwara also helped a great deal. You cannot accuse him of any stellar reputation.
It is no longer, may the best man win. The winner is bigger, not better.
10:30 am: D K Suresh leads by over 70,000 votes at the end of the eighth round of counting. This increasingly looks like a winning margin.
10:00 am: A small controversy erupts in Mandya. JD(S) candidate Puttaraju alleges that poll officials are counting votes from Congress strongholds first. Why would they do it? To create an impression that Ramya is leading, he says. He warns all officials that they will be made to repent for their bias.
In the meanwhile, Ramya leads by nearly 20,000 votes.
9:45 am: Congress lead slowly lengthening. D K Suresh leads by almost 30,000 votes now in Bangalroe Rural. If he wins, what will be the reward for his brother D K Shivakumar, who has been kept out of the cabinet as he is allegedly ‘tainted’. The race is closer in Mandya, but Ramya hangs on to her lead.
9:30 am: Congress leading by over 10,000 votes in both places. If these trends hold good, it would be a knockout punch for JD(S). Will it drive JD(S) to get close to BJP?
9: 07 am: Three rounds of counting over in Bangalore Rural. Anita Kumaraswamy is facing the odds here, she is trailing D K Suresh by 6,441 votes. She also lost the Assembly election from Channapatna.
8: 43 am: We don’t have numbers to share from Bangalore Rural. But JD (S) family member Anita Kumaraswamy trailing.
8: 37 am: First round of counting ends in Mandya. If you are a Ramya fan, good news. She has overtaken Puttaraju in the filmi style, as a colleague here notes. She is leading by 1,446 votes.
8:20 am: Early trends show JD(S) leading in Mandya and Congress in Bangalore Rural. But it is a long way to go.
8 am: The counting begins. Results should be out by afternoon.
7: 56 am: Election officials have opened the ‘strong room’ where the electronic voting machines are kept. Security is exceptionally tight. Everyone is edgy. It is good to go.
7:55 am: Lastly, you couldn’t have asked for a better cast to make these polls exciting. Popular actress Ramya is taking on former MLA Puttaraju in Mandya. In Bangalore Rural it is D K Suresh, brother of Congress muscleman D K Shiva Kumar Vs Anita Kumaraswamy.
7:50 am: There is also an intense personal element in these polls. The political war between the JD(S) first family and CM Siddarmaiah continues to rage.
7:46 am: These bypolls have raised the political temperature. BJP and JD (S) have come together to take on Congress, which is still in the ‘honeymoon period.’ For JD (S), which held these seats, it is a matter of survival. The family led by the ageing patriarch Deve Gowda has left no stone unturned to retain its bastions.
7:42 am: The counting of votes is set to begin at the government colleges in Mandya and Ramanagar.