MLC Polls: BJP, Congress win a seat each in Dakshina Kannada constituency

The BJP and the Congress have both retained their seats in the Legislative Council election from the Dakshina Kannada local authorities constituency. The election was held on December 10.

Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Kota Srinivas Poojary and the Congress candidate Manjunath Bhandari won the election. For Kota Srinivas Poojary, this is the fourth term in the Legislative Council while for Bhandari, this is the first term.

The counting, which commenced at 8 am, was completed by 12.20 pm at Rosario School and College in Mangaluru. Both the candidates won with first preference votes.

While Kota Srinivas Poojary won 3,672 first preference votes, Manjunath Bhandari won 2,097 first preference votes and Shafi Bellare of SDPI secured 204 votes. Of the total 6,011 votes, 56 ballot papers were invalid.

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The quota required a candidate to be declared winner was fixed at 1,986 after calculations. The quota is calculated with the total number of valid votes, divided by number of seats to be filled, plus 1.

In the election held in 2015, Kota Srinivas Poojary had secured 2,977 first preference votes, while Congress candidate Prathapchandra Shetty had polled 2,237 votes. The total votes polled in 2015 was 6,534.

It was BJP candidate Kota Srinivas Poojary who had won the Dakshina Kannada local authorities constituency seat from the Congress in 2008. Srinivas Poojary had defeated his Congress rival Nithyananda Mundodi by a margin of 293 votes then. The by-election in 2008 was necessitated, following the death of Congress MLC Blasius M D’Souza whose term was to have expired on January 5, 2010.

Later, in 2010, Kota and Prathapchandra Shetty were both elected to the Legislative Council unanimously.

Winners speak

Speaking to reporters, a jubilant Kota Srinivas Poojary said “I have won the poll without spending a single rupee on the voters. This is an expected victory. This is the victory of the “genuine voters.” I dedicate the victory to all the party workers who worked for my victory.”

“I have won thanks to the united efforts of party workers, elected representatives of undivided Dakshina Kannada district, state BJP President Nalin Kumar Kateel. I have been working for the betterment of local bodies. My desire is to empower the Panchayat Raj system.”

To a query, Kota said that the party had fielded only one candidate in those constituencies that had two seats each.

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“I am ready to discharge my duty as a minister for any portfolio allotted to me. I was given a plum portfolio of the Social Welfare department. I have been discharging my duty as Minister for Social Welfare in a transparent manner. My aim is to bring in revolutionary reforms in the department of Social Welfare.”

Attributing the victory to party workers, Congress victorious candidate, Manjunath Bhandari said “the victory was made possible by the united efforts of the Congress leaders and party workers. The party has given me an opportunity to contest the election inspite of being just a party worker. It is the victory of the party leaders.”
“I have read about the panchayat raj system academically. Now, I will work for the welfare of the local bodies which I represent,” he said.

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