Puttur falls to Congress - Shakuntala Shetty scores victory

Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network – Puttur (SP)

Puttur, May 8: Congress has succeeded in making inroads into the BJP citadel of Puttur constituency this time. Congress candidate, Shakuntala Shetty, has become victorious against BJP’s Sanjeeva Matandoor, with a margin of 1,589 votes. She scored 53952 votes against 52363 scored by her BJP rival.

Shakuntala Shetty, who had been a BJP legislator from this constituency once, had turned bitter enemy of D V Sadananda Gowda, after she was denied a ticket in the next election. Although she fought under the banner of Swabhimani Vedike and succeeded in giving a tough fight to the BJP, she had failed to win the previous assembly election.

This time around, Shakuntala joined the Congress and secured its ticket. Although initially there was heartburn about the local Congress leaders, who were aspiring to get the ticket, about the issuance of ticket to a newcomer, the dissidence could be handled without much problems. Later, Shakutala had challenged D V Sadananda Gowda to fight the election against her.

By defeating the BJP in its strong base, Shakuntala has brought Congress back into the reckoning into this constituency. The fact that the constituency, which boasts of a large number of RSS volunteers, has elected a Congress candidate, in itself is an achievement about which Congress leaders can feel proud of.

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