Easy win for Venkaiah, Ayanur while Mallya betters Oscar; Maruthi out
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
BANGALORE, Jun 17: Even as the results of the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha from the Karnataka Legislative Assembly for the four seats are yet to be officially declared, early and unconfirmed reports indicated that the two official nominees of ruling BJP – former national president Venkaiah Naidu and former Shimoga Lok Sabha member Ayanur Manjunath – had an easy victory as expected.
The Congress nominee Oscar Fernandes, the former union minister and former Lok Sabha member from Udupi, was also able to win comfortably while the second Congress candidate in the fray for the fourth seat – T V Maruthi -- was trounced. But the biggest surprise was not the victory of the JD(S) backed liquor baron and UB Group chairman Vijay Mallya but his margin of victory. Mallya was able to secure more votes than those secured by Congress party’s first candidate Oscar Fernandes.
Though fuller details are awaited, the early reports indicated that the two BJP candidates were able to secure 60 first preference votes each, while Oscar could get 55 against Mallya’s 59. The second candidate from Congress party, Maruthi, had to be content with a meagre 23 votes.
Evidently, Mallya was able to secure JD(S) and BJP votes and possibly a couple of extra votes from the Congress party as Maruthi’s tally is less than the surplus votes available with Congress party.
Of the 224 members of the Legislative Assembly, former minister Hartalu Halappa, who is in hospital following an alleged rape case against him, did not turn up to vote for the BJP. With the death of a sitting member from Gulbarga district, and a Congress MLA, G S Krishnamurthy, abstaining the number of total votes polled was reduced by three.
Further details are awaited.