After what seemed to be an unending counting and examination of votes, BJP candidate C.K. Ramamurthy was declared the winner from Jayanagar constituency against Congress’s incumbent MLA Sowmya Reddy by a slim margin of 16 votes.
Although the counting process began in the morning, the result for the constituency was only declared by midnight as major drama unfurled during the evening at SSMRV PU College where the votes were being counted for Jayanagar constituency.
According to sources, Ms. Reddy won by a margin of 160 votes at the end of all the rounds of counting. However, later, BJP leaders, especially Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya and Padmanabhanagar MLA R. Ashok, took objection to 177 postal ballot votes which were rejected due to technical reasons. As the confusion continued, Chief Commissioner, BBMP, and District Election Officer, Tushar Giri Nath reached the counting centre for further investigation.
“Later, after many officials and others met on the spot, they counted the 177 postal ballots which were previously rejected. That is how BJP was declared as a winner by a margin of 16 votes,” sources said.
Prior to the late night development, it was being reported from the counting centre that there had been several rounds of recounting of votes. This led to some confusion among members of both the parties.
By night, heavyweights from both the BJP and the Congress, including D.K. Shivakumar and D.K. Suresh had gathered near the counting centre.
According to police sources, the Congress leaders were prevented from entering the counting centre as they feared that it would create more tension in an already chaotic situation. After being stopped, the leaders tried to forcibly open the gates of the centre, which resulted in quite a commotion.
The Congress leaders then went on to stage a protest near the counting centre condemning the entry of Mr. Surya and Mr. Ashok into the counting centre. “Even though Ms. Reddy, the Congress candidate from Jayanagar constituency, achieved a victory, on the pretext of recounting, the election officials have tried to twist the results. Opposing this and the move to let Mr. Ashok and Mr. Surya, who are not agents, illegally enter the counting centre, we held a protest opposite the counting centre,” Mr. Shivakumar said in a tweet.
Later in the night, after the results were declared, Ms. Reddy was seen leaving the premises of the counting centre in tears.
