K'taka by-polls: BJP leads on 9, Cong-JDS on 2 seats each; counting underway

With the counting underway for Karnataka Assembly by-polls, the early trends showed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leading on nine seats.

The BJP candidates are leading from the Athani, Kagwad, Gokak, Yellapur, Hirekerur, Ranibennurm Vijayanagara, Chikkaballapur and the Mahalakshmi Layout seats.

The Congress candidates, on the other hand, are leading on the Hunasuru and Shivajinagar constituencies while two Janata Dal-Secular candidates have taken the lead from the Yeshvanthapura and Krishnarajapete seat.

One independent candidate, Sharath Kumar Bachegowda is also leading from the Hosakote seat in the initial phases of the counting.

The results of these by-polls will decide the fate of the four-month-old B S Yediyurappa-led BJP government in Karnataka.

The counting of the votes commenced at 8 am today and results are likely to be declared by this afternoon.

The result will not just decide the fate of BJP government in the state but also of those thirteen rebel MLAs who had sought the re-election following their resignation from erstwhile Congress-JD(S) coalition.

Yediyurappa confidently said that BJP will win at least 13 seats and the government will be "safeguarded".

The elections were held for 15 Assembly seats which were left vacant after the legislators resigned in July, triggering the collapse of the Congress-JDS coalition and paving the way for the BJP to come to power.