Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that represented Raichur-Koppal local bodies’ constituency in the Legislative Council through Halappa Achar had to surrender the seat to the Congress this time. In a tough fight between the two national parties, Congress candidate Basavaraj Patil Itagi won against his nearest contestant BJP’s C.V. Chandrashekhar by a margin of 328 votes.
Deputy Commissioner of Raichur S. Sasikanth Senthil, who was also the Returning Officer of the constituency, declared Mr. Itagi as winner at Infant Jesus High School where counting was held.
Of the 6,760 votes, 6,747 were polled. As many as 161 votes turned out to be invalid. Of the 6,586 valid votes, Mr. Itagi, who maintained lead right from the beginning, secured 3,441 votes to defeat Mr. Chandrashekhar who bagged 3,113 votes. Two Independent candidates Piddappa Gowda and Syed Mujeeb received 13 and 7 votes, respectively. As many as 12 voters rejected all the four candidates in the fray by opting for None of the Above (NOTA).
Mr. Chandrashekhar, who had camped at the vote-counting centre, left the place just as he got a clear picture of the results.
As the agents of the candidates and party leaders made the result clear, the Congress activists outside the vote-counting centre began to celebrate by bursting crackers and smearing colours. It was only after getting his victory confirmed that Mr. Itagi arrived at the vote-counting centre with Raichur Lok Sabha member B.V. Naik.
“The collective efforts of party leaders and cadre, good governance that the Congress government, led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, and the recent amendments to the Panchayat Raj Act that empowered elected representatives in all the three tiers of panchayat raj system are the major reasons for my victory,” Mr. Itagi told presspersons.
Mr. B.V. Naik said that the Congress victory in these elections would boost the morale of the leaders and cadre and have a positive effect on the zilla panchayat election and the byelection to the Deodurg Assembly constituency that is vacant after its representative Venkatesh Naik died in a rail accident.
“Mr. Itagi and I are natives of Deodurg and his victory would boost not only the party leaders and cadre but also the common voters and create a favourable condition for the Congress in the byelection and the zilla panchayat election,” Mr. Naik said.
