K.P. Ashwini, wife of the late Congress councillor R. Ananthu, has won the bypoll to Mysuru City Corporation’s (MCC) ward number 58. This result is considered to be a setback for the Congress, which had refused to field her as candidate.
Ms. Ashwini had entered the poll fray as an Independent. She polled 1,248 of the 3,594 votes cast in the election held on July 10. Her nearest rival, JD(S) member G. Manju, polled 944 votes, while Congress’ G.N. Manjunath came third with 924 votes.
The counting of votes was taken up early on Wednesday morning at the Government Sanskrit College under the supervision of MCC zonal commissioner Javare Gowda, who was the returning officer for the byelection. The election was necessitated by the death of R. Ananthu in January. The Congress had opted to nominate Mr. Manjunath, considered to be a close aide of Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Tanvir Sait.
After the declaration of the results, Ms. Ashwini told reporters that this was a victory for her late husband and his supporters. She said the people of the ward, which covers Raghavendra Nagar near Siddhartha Layout, had taught a lesson to the Congress. She added that in elections, the candidate too matters, not just the party.
