Council polls: Cong draws a blank

Congress has drawn a blank in the biennial election to the Karnataka Legislative Council in Mysore revenue region in the counting held here on Wednesday.

All the three sitting candidates have retained their seats in the elections held on June 10.

While the ruling BJP has retained its two seats, Janata Dal (S) candidate has also returned to the Council.

Council Chairman D H Shankara Murthy (BJP) retained his seat from South-West Graduates’ Constituency comprising Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Chikmagalur, Shimoga and parts of Davanagere district. He won comfortably in the first round alone by a margin of over 500 votes, defeating his immediate rival S P Dinesh of the Congress. While Murthy secured 5,789 votes, Dinesh got 5,262 votes. Janata Dal (S) candidate S L Bhoje Gowda had to remain contented for the third place with 3,475 votes. Four other candidates lost their deposits.

 

From the South-West Teachers’ Constituency covering the same six districts, BJP candidate Ganesh Karnik won in the third round. He secured 3,407 votes against his immediate rival K M Manjunath Kumar, an Independent, who got 3.065 votes. C M Panchaksharaiah secured 963 votes. Two of the five other candidates who lost the election were eliminated in the process of counting of votes.

Janata Dal (S) candidate and two-time MLC Marithibbegowda also retained his seat from the Karnataka South Teachers’ Constituency covering Mysore, Mandya, Chamarajanagar and Hassan districts.

He defeated Congress candidate M Lakshmana in the fourth round by a margin of over 1,700 votes. Gowda pooled 5,965 votes and Lakshmana 4,242 votes. BJP candidate S M Gurunanjaiah lost again by securing third place with 3,891 votes. Three other candidates were eliminated during counting.

Marithibbe Gowda had won in the first occasion as a Congress candidate and second time as an Independent. He scored a hat-trick now by managing to retain his seat on JD(S) ticket.

In all 21 candidates were in fray for the three seats in Mysore region from the 10 districts. Counting of votes took plae in presence of Regional Commissioner M V Jayanthi, who was also the Electoral Officer for the three constituencies.