Bangalore: By-election  - Congress, JDS Take Initial Lead

Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore (SP)

• Govindaraja Nagar - Congress candidate Priyakrishna wins  by over 3000 votes
• Channapattana - JDS candidate Ashwath wins
• Chittapura - BJP candidate Valmiki Naik wins by 1600 votes
• Ramanagara - JDS candidate K Raju wins by over 22,000 votes
• Kollegala - BJP candidate Nanjundaswamy wins  by over 8000 votes

Updates at 11.20am

Bangalore: The BJP has sprung a surprise by winning the Chittapur seat. Its candidate, Valmiki Naik, snatched victory by defeating Congress candidate Priyanka Kharge, son of union minister Mallikarjun Kharge, by a margin 1,600 votes. This constituency was earlier held by Mallikarjun Kharge,  former KPCC president and opposition leader in the assembly.

The Channapatna seat went to the JDS. Its candidate, M C Ashwath, defeated the BJP candidate and former Congress MLA, C P Yogeshwar. Yogeshwar, who also happens to be a cine actor, was considered to be the strongest contender here.

Valmiki Naik (Chitapur-BJP) and K Raju (Ramanagar - JDS)

Ashwath(Channarayapattana - JDS)


Priyakrishna (Govindaraja Nagara - Congress)

Nanjundaswamy (Kollegala- BJP)

The JDS has also annexeed the Ramanagar seat with a margin of 20,284 votes. Its candidate K Raju came out victorious from this constituency.

BJP candidate G N Nanjunda Swamy emerged victorious from Kollegal constituency. With this, the BJP has snatched away two seats from the Congress in this by-election, while the JDS snatched one seat. Now, the Congress can hope to retain only the Govindarajanagar seat in Bangalore, out of the four it held earlier. In Govindaraja Nagar Congress is leading by over 3000 votes as BJP minister V Somanna is trailing.

Updates at : 10.00am, IST

Bangalore, Aug 21: The counting of the votes for the by-elections held for five assembly constituencies in the state on August 18 is in progress. Initial leads point out to an equal battle between the JDS and the Congress. Out of the five constituencies, the Congess held four and the JDS held one, earlier.

In Chittapur constittuency, the Congress Party candidate is leading by 625 votes, while this party is also leading by 1,633 votes in Govindarajanagar constituency, where the BJP fielded minister and former Congress MLA, V Somanna, as its candidate. In Ramanager, the constituency held by it earlier, the JDS is leading by 11,647 votes. Surprisingly, the JDS is also leading by 3,852 votes in Channapatna constituency.

Kollegal is the only constituency where the BJP is leading. The BJP candidate here is leading by 3,958 votes  at the time last reports came in.