Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje

Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru

Mangaluru, May 13: While the Congress made a strong comeback as the single-largest party in the Karnataka assembly elections, coastal Karnataka remained the BJP's bastion as the saffron party was within finishing line in 11 out of the 13 assembly constituencies in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.

The counting of the votes for crucial elections was held on Saturday May 13 at NIT-K in Dakshina Kannada and St Cecily in Udupi.

For most of the rounds, the electorate in Puttur however seemed to reject candidates of both the national parties and elected Independent candidate Arun Putthila. The race was closely fought until the end between the Independent and the Congress candidate Ashok Kumar Rai, who was trailing by barely 1,000 votes at the end of 12th round. However, post noon, Rai managed to scramble past Putthila, securing a narrow lead. At the end of 14th round, Rai was ahead with 56,272 votes, while Putthila had secured 55,737 votes.

The Congress won in only one constituency, retaining its stronghold Mangaluru (Ullal) where U T Khader garnered a major chunk of the votes.

In Mangaluru South, sitting MLA Vedavyas Kamath of BJP secured an easy victory over Congress candidate J R Lobo, in Udupi BJP's Yashpal Suvarna scored a huge win over Congress candidate Prasadraj Kanchan.

BJP workers and local leaders erupted in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi erupted into celebration. They assembled in large numbers around the vote counting centres and burst crackers and celebrated their party’s lead over rival party candidates.

It was not a smooth sailing for the BJP in some of the constituencies. While in constituencies like Mangaluru South, Udupi, Kundapur and others BJP kept up its lead all through the day, in Byndoor Congress candidate Gopal Poojary was leading at least until the 5th round, albeit narrowly. By the 9th round, BJP candidate Gururaj Gantiholi raced ahead, leading by over four thousand votes.

In Mangaluru North, Congress candidate Inayath Ali, contesting for the first time, seemed to offer a close fight in the initial rounds, even overtaking BJP's Bharath Shetty in one round, but soon the BJP raced ahead by a big margin of over 13,000 votes.

Interestingly during the initial rounds, Sri Rama Sene's Pramod Muthalik who fought as an Independent seemed to threaten to eat into Karkala BJP's share of the votes, with barely a few hundred votes separating the BJP and Congress candidates. The firebrand right-winger managed to garner over 3,000 votes, but was no match for BJP veteran Sunil Kumar, who secured over 50,000 votes against Congress candidate Uday Shetty who gave a tough fight, falling short by less than 2,500 votes in the 12th round of counting.

Speaking to Daijiworld, U T Khader expressed happiness over Congress victory in the state and said, "People have voted for a sensible, intelligent party. People are suffering from price rise and unemployment. They know what BJP is and have given a clear mandate to the Congress."

On Congress performance in coastal Karnataka, he said he will discuss the setback with party leaders.

BJP candidate for Moodbidri Umanath Kotian of BJP, who secured a big margin of votes over Congress' Mithun Rai, said, "People in the constituency have given a clear mandate to me for my development works. I will strive for even more development of my constituency in my new term."

MLA Y Bharath Shetty said, "It is victory of the BJP party workers and general public. The Congress cannot fulfill the assurance given to the people.”

On a query over the ban of Bajrang Dal mentioned in the Congress’ manifesto, Shetty said that it is impossible to ban Bajrang Dal.

MLA Vedavyas Kamath speaking to media said, “Voters of my constituency have blessed me. They have chosen me. The Congress was trying to come to power by spreading lies. They cannot fulfill the assurance given to people. They have to fulfill all the assurances now.”

Beltangady constituency MLA Harish Poonja said, "The party workers and people have blessed me by electing me with the highest votes. I will work for the development of my constituency. People will realise if the assurances of Congress are true.”

Congress leader Ashok Rai said, "The BJP should realise that they should not side line common party workers. It is the victory of people and party workers as they toiled immensely for my victory."