Congress bags Periyapatna, BJP faces massive defeat

Daijiworld Media Network – Mysore (SP)

Mysore, May 31: In the keen tussle between chief minister, Siddaramaiah, and former chief minister, H D Kumaraswamy, to snatch victory in Periyapatna assembly constituency, Siddaramaiah has emerged the winner. Congress candidate, K Venkatesh, who was also elected in the 2008 election, was declared elected again from the constituency, defeating K Mahadev of the JD(S).

With the victory, Siddaramaiah has asserted his supremacy in his home district, and the number of Congress MLAs in the state assembly has risen to 122.

Congress candidate got 62,045 votes, as against 59,957 mustered by K Mahadev of JD(S). All the other candidates including BJP and BSR Congress fared very badly. BJP stood at the fourth position with just 3,731 votes, losing the deposits too. BSR Congres stood third with 5,669 votes.

JD(S), which led till the completion of the fourth round, started lagging behind thereafter. The difference of votes continued to show ups and downs, but the Congress candidate maintained the lead thereafter till the end.

Election to the constituency, scheduled for May 5, was postponed to May 28 on account of the death of BJP candidate, Sannamoge Gowda. BJP replaced him with R T Sathish, but failed to make any impact on the electorate.  The polling percentage here was an unprecedented 83.84 percent.

With the Periyapatna victory, the Congress has taken eight of the 11 assembly seats from Mysore district.

The Congress victory has dashed the JD(S)' hopes of becoming the second largest party in the assembly. It is now tied at the second spot with BJP as the two have won 40 seats each.

The remaining 22 seats are shared by smaller parties and individuals. One member is nominated to represent the Anglo-Indian community.