BJP loses three seats in Dakshina Kannada

Mangalore, May 25 (UNI) The BJP, which had captured 11 out of 15 assembly seats in the 2004 polls in the undivided Dakshina Kannada district, lost Belthangady, Bantwal and Karkala seats this time.

The strong contender Congress on the other hand which had shown poor performance in the 2004 elections, has improved its position in the current election by wresting the seats of Karkala in addition to the retaining its seats in Mangalore city (erstwhile Lula), Moodabidre besides making inroads in Belthangady, Bantwal and Karkala.

In Bantwal, where two heavy weights- former ministers B Ramanath Rai, who is also the DCC president and B Nagaraja Shetty were fighting the election, Mr Rai, fighting the election for the 6th time won by a margin of over 1250 votes.

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