Show of strength ends in draw in APMC poll

The show of strength between once associates and now foes — former chief minister Siddaramaiah and former minister G T Devegowda — resulted in a draw and the luck of their candidates was decided by a lottery, in the election to Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) here on Friday.

Three of the nominated BJP votes split, with a majority of them went to the Congress, facilitating the draw of lots. Tahsildar K R Rakshith was the election officer.

Congress succeeded in retaining the post of president of the APMC, while JD(S) got the vice president’s post — Bandipalya Basavaraju and M Nagaraju respectively. The runners-up were Kotehundi M Mahadevu and M K Anand respectively.

The earlier president was K Prabhuswamy and earlier vice-president was J Chikkajavaraiah.

All four candidates secured eight votes each in the polling. There are 13 elected members in the APMC and the state government nominated three members in a hurry, even though the BJP has little role in the committee. Among 13 members, six were supported by the Congress, six by JD(S) and one was elected from the merchants constituency.

The nominated members are J S Jagadeesh, Shivabasappa from Kuppegala and Mahadevamma from Rammanahalli. Even though Devegowda, who defeated Siddaramaiah in the last election in Chamundeshwari Assembly segment, was close to the BJP leaders, he failed to garner the BJP votes. Siddaramaiah’s associates K Harish Gowda and former ZP president K Marigowda succeeded in winning over the BJP votes.

Jagadeesh, a former Congressman, is a former corporator from Sharadevi Nagar in the city, he was a close associate of the late Rakesh, the elder son of ex-CM Siddaramaiah. As he was not given a ticket by Siddaramaiah, in the last election, he had crossed over to the BJP. However, his attempts to rejoin the Congress, till recently, turned futile.

BJP district (rural) president S D Mahendra said, "The official stand of the party was to remain neutral, but the decision could not be communicated to the nominated members, before they entered the APMC premises."

Meanwhile, Kotehundi Mahadevu said, "The local BJP leaders had entered into an agreement with the Congress and all three nominated members voted for the Congress candidates. We got a Congress vote, which resulted in a draw."