BJP Candidate CK Ramamurthy Wins Jayanagar Seat By Just 16 Votes

BJP candidate C K Ramamurthy won the Jayanagar seat in Karnataka by a slender margin of 16 votes against his Congress rival Soumya Reddy on Saturday, officials said.

However, the announcement was made after much drama as the Congress had staged protest over EC's decision to hold a recounting of votes. The BJP candidate reportedly asked for a recounting that put the brakes on celebration among Reddy's supporters.

"The result was announced by the officials at the Counting Centre at S S M R V College in Jayanagar late tonight," a state Information Department official said in a statement.

The confusion erupted due to unsealed 160 postal ballots out of 850, according to a report in The Times of India.

As the victory margin was too narrow, Ramamurthy had demanded the recounting of votes. Tension prevailed at the R V Institute of Management in Jayanagar where the counting was taking place as the Congress state president D K Shivakumar along with state unit working president Ramalinga Reddy, who is also the father of Sowmya Reddy, and many other leaders staged a demonstration outside the polling booth, demanding justice.

With this, the Congress has won 135 seats in the 224-member Karnataka Assembly. The BJP has won 66 seats and the JD(S) 19, according to the Election Commission website.

As many as 14 ministers of the outgoing Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government lost the Karnataka Assembly elections, the counting for which was taken up on Saturday. They are: Govinda Karjol (Mudhol), J C Madhuswamy (Chikkanayakanahalli), B C Patil (Hirekerur), Shankar Patil Munena Koppa (Navalgund), Halappa Achar (Yelburga) and B Sriramulu (Ballari), K Sudhakar (Chikkaballapur), B C Nagesh (Tiptur), Murugesha Nirani (Bilgi), B C Patil (Hirekerur) and M T B Nagaraj (Hoskote.