Saffron does not brighten up in state council polls

BJP = 10, Congress = 10, JD(S) = 5 in Council.

BJP’s efforts to grab both seats in the legislative council from Dharwad Local Authorities Constituency came a cropper. It had to be content with just one seat. The Congress also managed to retain its seats with its candidate Srinivas Mane winning it. Sitting MLC Shivaraj Sajjanar (BJP) made it to the Council once again.

Srinivas Mane sprang a surprise by winning the election in the first round itself by securing 3,303 first preference votes while Sajjanar had to be declared elected after second round of counting. Sajjanar who had polled 1953 first preference votes finally reached a tally of 2,371 votes. BJP’s second candidate M R Patil was not lucky to make it as he could secure only 1,834 votes. Janata Dal (S) candidate D M Sali could manage 297 while other four in the fray did not reach three-figure mark. F B Bheemannavar scored 24, Parameshwar Kale 14, Timmenahalli Halappa 21 and Nagaraj Mamardi secured 25 votes.

 

The constituency with a total 7355 votes had seen 7320 voters casting their votes. Of the total votes polled 410 had been rejected as invalid. Deputy Commissioner Darpan Jain who is the returning officer for the constituency comprising Dharwad, Gadag and Haveri districts declared the results on Monday afternoon at Karnatak College building.

While there was jubilation in Congress camp following Mane’s victory, most of the BJP supporters except those from Sajjanar’s home district Haveri had left the counting place after they realized that M R Patil was not going to win. The fact that Sajjanar had to wait for the second round of counting to be completed dampened the spirits of the BJP supporters. No prominent leader from BJP was present at the counting centre to celebrate Sajjanar’s victory.

On the contrary, KPCC president R V Deshapande was at the circuit house in Dharwad when the results were announced. He congratulated Mane and MLA Santosh Lad who called on him.

In 2003 elections, Basavaraj Bommai who was in Janata Dal (U) and A M Hindasgeri (Congress) had won the seats. Bommai resigned the seat in 2008 to contest assembly election after he decided to join BJP. It necessitated a by-election which was won by Shivaraj Sajjanar (BJP).

A M Hindasgeri who was set to be renamed as party’s candidate backed out in favour of H K Patil hoping that the party would field H K Patil. Hindasgeri’s calculations went awry as the party high command decided in favour of youth Congress leader Srinivas Mane who had lost in the 2008 by-election. Kalghatagi MLA Santosh Lad spearheaded the campaign for Mane and had put in his resources to get the young leader elected.