The Janata Dal (Secular) won the elections to the Legislative Council from South Graduates constituency with its candidate K.T. Srikante Gowda emerging triumphant after the counting of votes, which extended to the elimination rounds.
Mr. Gowda, whose tally including the preferential votes was 23,619, defeated his nearest BJP rival M.V. Ravishankar, who polled 14,753 votes. Congress party’s Ravindra finished third.
Though Mr. Gowda picked up early leads in the counting of votes, which began early on Monday morning, the margin of lead against Mr. Ravishankar began narrowing during the fourth round of counting.
Yet, Mr. Gowda maintained the lead, albeit a narrow one, till the conclusion of the sixth round of counting. But, with no candidate reaching the quota (fifty per cent of the total valid votes polled plus one), the counting process extended to the elimination round. After overnight counting of preferential votes, Mr. Gowda was declared elected on Tuesday morning.
Of the eligible 1,20,445 voters spread across Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Mandya and Hassan, a total of 52,800 had cast their votes during polling on June 9. While 5,743 votes were declared invalid, as many as 83 of the valid voters had opted for NOTA (None of the Above).
Mr. Srikante Gowda said he was dedicating his victory to party supremo and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda. Speaking to reporters after conclusion of the counting process he attributed his victory to the hard work of JD (S) leaders and workers.
Mr. Gowda recalled the call given by party’s rebel MLA Cheluvarayaswamy against casting their votes in favour of the party’s official candidate. “It was that call which brought about unity among the party workers and leaders and helped me win the elections”, he claimed.
Meanwhile, BJP candidate Mr. Ravishankar said though he lost the elections, the narrow margin of loss was a consolation. He did not rule out the possibility of his own partymen conspiring to defeat him.
