JOIN USShantha retains Bellary LS seat
The recounting of votes polled in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections from the Bellary constituency held on Saturday that had attracted widespread attention has proved to be a damp squib.
The MP status of J Shantha (technically a BJP MP, but presently identifying herself with her brother B Sriramulu’s BSR party) remains intact. There is also no change in the number of votes she polled, neither in the number of votes secured by her seven opponents.
Chandregowda, the agent of her nearest rival and Congress candidate Y Hanumanthappa, had filed a petition in the High Court, alleging electoral malpractices.
The High Court had ordered recounting of votes and the Supreme Court upheld the High Court order and directed the recounting.
The recounting was held at the Y Mahabaleshwarappa Engineering College, and there was no change in the number of votes polled in any of the 18 rounds, from that of the 2009 results.
Chandregowda had said that the Congress candidate was leading with a huge margin till the 16th round and had alleged irregularities in the 17th and 18th rounds, resulting in the defeat of the Congress candidate.
No change
However, there was no change in the number of votes secured by the candidates in the 17th and 18th rounds. The difference in the number of votes secured by Shantha and Hanumanthappa was intact at 2,243. While Shantha got a total of 4,02,213 votes, Hanumanthappa got 3,99,970 votes. The Election Commission will submit the results to the High Court, which will officially announce them. On Saturday, the Congress agents questioned why the seals of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) of the polling booth numbers 70, 81 and 157 ‘A’ were intact. Their argument was how could votes polled in these EVMs be counted in 2009, without breaking the seals.
The contention raised by the agents delayed Saturday’s recounting process by more than an hour. The process started only after the election observers and chief electoral officer and deputy commissioner A A Biswas visited the counting tables and resolved the confusion.
Shantha said Saturday’s result had reaffirmed the choice the people had made in 2009. She attributed the victory to Sriramulu and Janardhana Reddy. Hanumanthappa only said his expectations had been belied.