Congress wrests Bellary assemby seat in Karnataka

The ruling Congress Monday wrested the Bellary Rural legislative assembly segment in Karnataka from the regional party BSR (Congress), defeating the BJP in the Aug 21 by-polls.

N.Y. Gopalakrishna of the Congress was declared winner from the reserved constituency (ST) by 33,104 votes over Oblesh of the BJP after counting in the mining town, about 330 km from here.

The by-poll was caused due to the resignation of former BJP minister B.R. Sriramulu, who contested on the BSR ticket in the May 2013 state assembly elections, on winning from the Bellary (ST) parliamentary constituency in the general election on a BJP ticket.

In the other two assembly segments of Chikkodi-Sadalga and Shikaripura in the state's northern and central regions, the Congress is leading in the former while the BJP is ahead in the latter.

After 12 of the 18 rounds of vote counting in Chikkodi, Congress candidate Ganesh Hukkeri was leading K.M. Mallikarjun of the BJP by 21,724 votes while B.Y. Raghavendra of the BJP was ahead of H.S. Shanthavirappa Goud of the Congress in Shikaripura by 6,033 votes after 15 of the 17 rounds.

The first by-polls after the April 17 general election in the state witnessed a record voter turnout in all the three assembly segments, with 86 percent in Chikkodi, 72 percent in Shikaripura and 71 percent in Bellary.

Resignation of former Congress minister Prakash Hukkeri from Chikkodi-Sadalga assembly seat after winning from the Chikkodi Lok Sabha seat and that of former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa from Shikaripura on winning from the Shimoga parliamentary seat necessitated the by-polls in both constituencies.