Karnataka polls: Shivakumar stages dharna alleging govt machinery's misuse

Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar staged a 'dharna' in front of the counting centre in Jayanagar night alleging the misuse of government machinery to favour Bharatiya Janata Party candidate

Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar staged a 'dharna' in front of the counting centre in Jayanagar on Saturday night alleging the misuse of government machinery to favour Bharatiya Janata Party candidate CK Ramamurthy who won with a narrow margin of 16 votes.

BJP's C K Ramamurthy received 57797 votes while Congress candidate Sowmya Reddy secured 57781 votes, thus facing defeat with 16 votes.

Shivakumar was accompanied by Congress workers at the counting centre in the late night protest.

This comes after the BJP's CK Ramamurthy was declared winner in Bengaluru's Jayanagar constituency, defeating Congress rival Sowmya Reddy by a slim margin of 16 votes.

Shivakumar alleged that BJP's Tejaswi Surya and R Ashok were allowed inside the counting centre.

DK Shivakumar defeated JD(S)' B Nagaraju in the Kanakapura constituency in the Karnataka Assembly election on Saturday by 1,22,392 votes.

As the counting of votes for the Karnataka assembly elections concluded on Saturday, Congress got a thumping majority by winning 135 seats.

According to the Election Commission of India, Congress won 136 seats pushing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) out of power in the only southern state it ruled and boosting its own prospects for the electoral battles ahead.

BJP managed to win 66 seats. Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) bagged 19 seats. Independents have won two seats while Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha and Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha won one seat each.

The Congress maintained a lead since morning when counting began for the assembly seats in the fiercely contested election.

After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost the Karnataka Assembly elections, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday tendered his resignation to Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot.

"I have tendered my resignation and it has been accepted," Bommai told reporters.

Bommai won with a margin of 35,978 votes from Shiggaon constituency but many of his ministerial colleagues lost.

Karnataka went to the polls on May 10 for the 224-member state assembly.