Daijiworld News Network - Mangalore (MB)
Pics by Dayanand Kukkaje
Mangalore, Dec 7: As soon as the news of Siddaramaiah's victory in the Chamundeshwari assembly by-election in Mysore, by a wafer-thin majority though, spread it appears to have given a shot in the arm to the faction-ridden Congress party in the district.
Crackers were burst near the Circuit House and also at Hampankatta and other traffic cirles in the city by Congress party members. It may be recalled here that the BJP had similarly celebrated the fall of the Dharam Singh-led Congress-JDS coalition government early this year.
As it is being thought that the defeat of the JDS-BJP combined candidate would lead to fissures in the two-party coalition in the state, Congress has every reason to be happy, said a Congress worker. It is all the more consoling that the Congress party's votes equalled the votes polled by the BJP and JDS together, he did not fail to add.
Both Congress and the JDS-BJP coalition in the state had taken the victory as a prestige issue. Unofficial reports say both the sides spent in crores to ensure their respective candidate's win. While initially the BJP wanted its own candidate to be put up, finally in the interest of the survival of the coalition, it was decided to field only the JDS candidate with support from the BJP.
Congress workers are gloating over the fact that the traditional BJP vote bank may not have cast their vote in full strength as they had done elsewhere in the past, thus ensuring Siddaramaiah's win.
Daijiworld News Flash at 12-45 pm on Thursday, Dec 7:
Star of Mysore reports from Mysore:
(by reciprocal arrangement)
Mysore: In a sensational poll battle in Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency, former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah (Congress) bounced back on Thursday with a wafer thin margin of just 257 votes.
He defeated his nearest JD(S)-BJP rival Shivabasappa who secured 1,15,255 votes.
The winner Siddaramaiah, who had challenged JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda, bagged 1,15,512 votes.
The votes polled in the Dec. 4 by-elections were taken up for counting at 8 am today at Maharani's College here and the counting ended with the 27th round at about 12.30 pm.
It was a virtual rat race between the two main rivals who tried to overtake each other all through the counting process.
Siddaramaiah overtook Shivabasappa in the 15th round and maintained the lead thereafter except a minor setback in the 21st round.
Though Shivabasappa was in the lead by 43 votes in the first round, Siddharamaiah overtook him in the second round with a lead of 1,366 votes.
The lead dramatically reduced to 922 in the third round. Shivabasappa had secured 4,463 votes against Siddaramaiah's 4,420 votes.
However, Siddaramaiah got 3,431 votes in the second round taking the total to 9,260. Shivabasappa got 4,840 votes taking the total to 7,894 votes.
Siddaramaiah's lead improved in the fourth round. He was leading by 1,364 votes. He had secured 4,155 votes (total 17,585) and Shivabasappa 3,713 votes (16,221).
Siddaramaiah enjoyed a confortable lead in the fifth round by 3,478. He had got 4013 votes taking the total to 21,598. Shivabasappa had secured total of 18,120 votes with 1,899 in the fifth round.
The fight seemed to be neck-to-neck. Siddharamaiah maintained a lead of 3,577 votes taking his total to 24,996 votes against Shivabasappa's 21,419 votes. In the sixth round, Siddharamaiah secured 3,398 votes while Shivabasappa got 3,299.
Siddaramaiah's lead was drastically reduced to 1,839 in the seventh round. Siddharamaiah had secured a total of 27,730 votes with 2,734 in the seventh round.
Securing 4,472 votes in the seventh round, Shivabasappa managed to reduce Siddharamaiah's lead almost by 50 per cent earning a total of 25,891.
Dramatic twist
The JD(S) candidate, however, gave a dramatic twist to the trend when he overtook Siddaramaiah establishing a lead of 63 votes in the eighth round. Shivabasappa had secured a total of 30,988 votes with 5,097 in this round as against Siddaramaiah's 30,925. He had secured 3,195 votes in this round.
Hereafter, Shivabasappa marched ahead improving his lead by 280 votes in the ninth round. Shivabasappa secured 3,502 votes (total 34,490) against Siddharamaiah's 3,282 (total 34,207).
It was again hide-and-seek between the rivals. Siddharamaiah managed to cut the JD(S) lead to 231 votes when he secured 4,643 votes taking his total to 38,850 in the 10th round. Shivabasappa had got 4,591 votes (total 39,081).
The lead was further reduced to 214 votes when Siddharamaiah got 3577 votes in the eleventh round (total 42,427) against Shivabasappa's 3,560 (total 42,641).
All of a sudden Shivabasappa's lead jumped to 772 votes in the twelfth round as he got 4,677 votes (total 47,318) against Siddaramaiah's 4,119 (total 46,546).
Shivabasappa's lead was reduced to 660 votes in the 13th round when he got 5,513 (total 52,831) as against Siddaramaiah's 5,625 (total 52,171).
In the 14th round Shivabasappa's lead witnessed a dramatic jump. He was leading by 1,681 votes when he secured 5,506 (total 58,337) while Siddaramaiah got 4,485 (total 56,656).
Siddu ahead
The trend suddenly changed in the 15th round when Siddu overtook his rival gaining a lead of 97 votes. He got 5,949 votes (total 62,605) and Shivabasappa got 4,171 votes (total 62,508).
The lead further improved in the 16th round. Siddharamaiah was leading by 1,517 votes over his rival who got 3,997 votes (66,505). Siddharamaiah got 5,417 (total 68,022).
Siddharamaiah's lead, however, fell to 1,201 in the 17th round when he got 4,705 (72,727) as against Shivabasappa's 5,021 (71,526).
The lead was further reduced to 1,044 votes. Siddharamaiah had got 4,949 votes (77,676) against his rival's 5,106 (total 76,632).
The 19th round witnessed further improvement in Siddharamaiah's lead when it reached 1,648. He had secured 5,485 votes (total 83,161) and Shivabasappa 4,881 (81,513).
Siddharamaiah's lead had further plunged to 353 in the 20th round. When he got 4,968 votes (total 88,129) as against Shivabasappa's 6,263 (total 87,776).
It was a virtual rat race in the 21st round as Shivabasappa overtook Siddharamaiah by establishing a lead of just 22 votes. He got 5,246 (total 93,022) against his rival's 4,871 (total 93,000).
In the 22nd round, Siddaramaiah's lead jumped to 1,868 when he bagged 5,446 votes (total 98,446) as Shivabasappa got 3,556 (total 96,578).
In the 23rd round Siddharamaiah's was further improved by 3,993 votes. He got 6,204 (total 104,650). Shivabasappa got 4,079 votes (total 10,0657).
His lead dipped to 3,741 votes when Siddharamaiah got 3,548 votes (total 1,08,198) against Shivabasappa's 3,800 (total 1,04,457).
Siddaramaiah's lead was further reduced to 2,689 in the 25th round as Shivabasappa bagged 3,757 votes (1,08,214) against Siddharamaiah's 2,705 (1,10,903).
Shivabasappa got 4,213 votes (total 1,12,427) in the 26th round restricting Siddharamaiah's lead to 1,186 (total 1,13,613).
It was in the last and 27th round that Siddharamaiah won the election for the fifth time with a margin of only 257. He got 1,899 votes (total 1,15,512). Shivabasappa got 2,828 (total 1,15,255).
Other candidates
JD(U) candidate and former MLA A.S. Guruswamy secured 941 votes while B. Karunakar of Samajawadi Party got 3,304 votes. Independent candidate M. Venkatesh got 1,025 votes while M.S. Rudraswamy got 682 votes.
Fans of Siddharamaiah burst crackers outside the Maharani's College when the results were announced.