Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje/Umesh Marpalli/Steevan Colaco
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru/Mangaluru/Udupi (DV/HB/YH)
Results
State (30 ZP / 175 TP)
BJP - 7 ZP/56 TP
Congress - 10 ZP/61 TP
JD(S) - 2 ZP/22 TP
Others - 11 ZP/36 TP
Dakshina Kannada (total seats - ZP 36; TP 136)
Mangaluru (10 ZP/39 TP) - Congress - 3 ZP/ 20 TP ; BJP - 7 ZP/19 TP
Bantwal (9 ZP/34 TP) - Congress - 5 ZP/22 TP ; BJP - 4 ZP/12 TP
Beltangady (7 ZP/26 TP) - Congress - 4 ZP/12 TP ; BJP - 3 ZP/14 TP
Puttur (6 ZP/24 TP) - Congress - 3 ZP/8 TP ; BJP - 3 ZP/16 TP
Sullia (4 ZP/13 TP) - Congress - 0 ZP/4 TP ; BJP - 4 ZP/9 TP
Total (36 ZP/136 TP): Congress - 15 ZP/66 TP ; BJP 21 ZP/70 TP
Udupi district (Total seats - 26 ZP; 98 TP)
Udupi (11 ZP/41 TP) - Congress - 4 ZP/14 TP ; BJP - 7 ZP/27 BJP
Karkala (5 ZP/20 TP) - Congress 0 ZP/1 TP ; BJP - 5 ZP/19 TP
Kundapur (10 ZP/37 TP) - Congress 2 ZP/11 TP ; BJP - 8 ZP/26 TP
Total (26 ZP/98 TP): Congress - 6 ZP/26 TP ; BJP - 20 ZP/72 TP
Bengaluru/Mangaluru/Udupi, Feb 23: The counting of votes of both first and second phases of zilla and taluk panchayat elections began across the state at 8 am. The polling for the first phase was held on February 13 in 15 districts and the second phase of polling was held on February 20.
BJP secured an early lead over Congress, but the ruling party forged ahead soon. In the state, the Congress won 10 of the 30 ZPs while BJP secured 7 and JD(S) 2. Out of the 175 taluks, Congress and BJP each won 56 while JD(S) secured 20.
Out of 1,083 zilla panchayat seats Congress has won 498 BJP has won 408, JD(S) 148, CPM 1, Independent 27, JD(U) 1.
Out of 3,884 taluk panchayat seats, BJP has won 1,365, Congress 1,708, JD (S) 616 and others 195.
In Mangaluru, B K Abdul Jabbar of Congress was among the first to be declared winner. In Sajipamunnuru, Congress candidate Chandra Prakash Shetty defeated BJP candidate Padmanabha Kottary. M S Mohammed of Congress won in Kolnad.
Under Mangaluru ZP, BJP secured 21 out of 36 seats while Congress garnered 15. Vinod Kumar Bollur from BJP won from Kinnigoli, Sucharita Shetty of BJP from Puttige, Sujatha K P of BJP from Shirthady, Kasturi Panja of BJP from Kateel, Vasanthi of BJP from Bajpe, Janardhan Gowda of BJP from Yedapadavu, and Dhanalaxmi of BJP from Someshwar. Congress candidates U P Ibrahim won from Gurpur, Seema Melwin D'Souza from Neermarga and Rashida Banu from Konaje.
In Bantwal ZP, BJP candidates Tungappa Bangera won from Sangabettu, Ravindra Kambali from Pudu, Kamalaksha Poojary from BJP, and Jayashree Kodanduru from Punacha. Congress candidates B Padmashekar Jain won from Sarapadi, Manjula Maave from Mani, M S Mohammed from Kolnad, Mamatha Gatty from Kurnad, and Chandraprakash Shetty from Sajipamunnur.
In Beltangady ZP, BJP candidates Soumyalata Gowda won from Laila, Koragappa Naik from Dharmasthala, and Mamatha Shetty from Kuvettu. Congress candidates Dhananendra Kumar won from Naravi, Shekar Kukkedi from Aladangady, Namitha K from Ujire and Shahul Hameed from Kaniyoor.
Puttur ZP saw a close battle with both BJP and Congress clinching three seats each. BJP candidates Shayana Jayananda won from Uppinangady, Prameela Janardhan from Belandur, and Meenakshi Shantigodu from Panaje. Congress candidates Sarvotham Gowda won from Nelyady, Verghis Kadaba from Kadaba, and Anitha Hemanath Shetty from Nettanige Mudnur.
In Sullia ZP, BJP bagged all the four seats, with its candidates S N Manmata winning from Bellare, Asha Thimmappa from Guttigar, Pushpavathi Balila from Jalsoor and Harish Kanjipili from Aranthod.
In Udupi district zilla panchayats, BJP won 20 while Congress could take only 6. BJP candidates Sheela Shetty won from Brahmavar, Dinakar won from Udyavar, Geetanjali from Kurkalu, Shilpa from Yellur, Shashikant from Padubidri, Jyothi from Hebri, Reshma from Belman, Sumit from Bailoor, Divya from Miyar, Uday Kotian from Bajagoli, Raghavendra Kanchan from Kota, Suprita from Halady, Taranath Shetty from Siddapur, Laxmi from Koteshwar, Babu Shetty from Vandse, Shobha from Trasi, Shankar Poojary from Byndoor, Suresh from Shiroor, Lata from Beejady and Pratap Hegde from Mandarthi. Congress candidates Sudhakar Shetty won from Perdoor, Chandrika from Hiriadka, Janardhan Tonse from Kallianpur, Gauri from Kambadakone, Jyothi from Kavrady and Wilson from Shirva.
However, in the coastal district of Uttara Kannada, Congress is leading with 19 seats as against BJP's 6 in zilla panchayats. In Bhatkal, Congress had much to cheer about, as, after over a decade, it won 3 out of 4 seats while BJP secured 1. In taluk panchayats too, Congress is leading with 46 out of 80 seats, and BJP winning 21 so far.
In Bhatkal ZP, Congress candidates Albert D'Costa won from Belke, Jai Shri Moger from Heble and Sindhu Bhaskar Naik from Mavalli. BJP candidate Nagamma Masti Gonda won from Shirali constituency.
Health minister and MLA of Ullal U T Khader who came to the counting centre expressed disappointment over the performance of Congress in the ZP elections and said, "We bow to the verdict of the people. In my constituency, Congress won 12 of the 16 taluk panchayats. It is because of the immense efforts of the party workers. Unfortunately we could not perform in zilla panchayat election. All have done well, but the party failed. All the ministers from here including myself will sit together and introspect on what went wrong. We will take all the party workers into confidence."
U R Sabhapati's statements responsible for Congress debacle: J P Hegde
In Brahmavar, Congress candidate Mallika Balakrishna suffered an unexpected defeat at the hands of her counterpart Sheela Shetty from BJP by a close margin of 150 votes. Speaking to daijiworld, she blamed her loss on supporters of former MP Jayaprakash Hegde and NOTA as well as rejected votes. "There is no place for sincerity. I did not expect to lose. I was chosen as the candidate from about 10 or 12 aspirants and I was confident of winning. But I will not leave Congress just because I have lost. J P Hegde's supporters are also to be blamed - they worked against Congress and even called press meets and sent messages asking people to vote for BJP. They have succeeded in their efforts," she said.
In Brahmavar, there were as many as 727 NOTA and 24 votes were rejected. It is felt that if not for this, Mallika might have won.
Sheela Shetty who won from Brahmavar said, "This is due to the efforts of party workers who worked sincerely for my victory. I will work sincerely for the development of Brahmavar."
Former MP Jayaprakash Hegde speaking exclusively to daijiworld said, "Congressman U R Sabhapati's statements in the media were responsible for his party's debacle. Only one person cannot make or break a party, it is a team work. I am friendly with all party workers and talk to them like a friend, while Congress leaders consider them as just party workers. After Vinay Kumar Sorake won the Assembly election, his attitude changed and he did not care about party workers."
Asked to respond to Mallika Balakrishna's statement, he said, "When I was in Congress I shared a good rapport with her. She is a good lady and I sympathise with her."
He further added, "During MLC elections the Congress leaders distributed money to voters. If they had done the same this time, the party would have won. In the coming days more people will leave Congress."
The polls were held for 1,080 ZP and 3,870 TP seats in the state. Candidates have been elected unopposed for three ZP seats and 14 TP seats. The term of the local bodies will be five years from the date of issuing notice for the first meeting.
As many as 2.11 crore people cast their votes in the two phases. The voting percentage was 71.70 per cent, three per cent more than in 2010 elections.
In Dakshina Kannada, the counting centres are Mahatma Gandhi Centenary School, Bondel, Mangaluru, Infant Jesus English and Kannada Medium School, Modankapu, Bantwal, SDM PU College, Ujire, Belthangady, Vivekananda English Medium School, Tenkila, Puttur and Nehru Memorial College, Sullia.