Bengaluru: The high profile Jayanagar Assembly constituency in Bengaluru, became the last result to be announced by the Election Commission, after several rounds of re-counting of votes was taken up following a complaint by BJP candidate C.K. Ramamurthy after his Congress rival and sitting MLA Sowmya Reddy was declared winner yesterday afternoon.

Sowmya Reddy of the Congress, who had edged out her nearest rival C.K. Ramamurthy of the BJP by a margin of just 160 votes, was initially declared the winner after the counting of votes of all the rounds ended at SSMRV PU college in Jayanagar. But the BJP candidate Ramamurhty raised objections and insisted on recounting of votes and also to take count  of 177 postal ballots which were earlier rejected.

Soon as the re-counting began,  Bengaluru South MP Tejaswi Surya and Padmanabhanagar MLA R. Ashoka reached the Counting Centre. As the BJP insisted on counting of the rejected postal ballots, the count of all the postal ballots was taken up 3-4 times and subsequently C.K. Ramamurthy of the BJP was declared the winner by the Returning Officer, much to the annoyment of Congress candidate Sowmya Reddy. Upon coming to know of this, KPCC President D.K. Shivakumar, Bangalore Rural MP D.K. Suresh  and other Congress leaders rushed to the Counting Centre when  high drama prevailed with the Congress leaders accusing the Returning Officer of bias and Congress and BJP leaders engaging in a war of words. However, the Congress party’s  allegations were rejected and finally the Election Commission, late last night,  declared C.K. Ramamurthy of the BJP as the winner by a margin of 16 votes, which is the least margin of victory by any candidate in this Assembly polls.

According to the Election Commission of India website, BJP’s C.K. Ramamurthy secured 57,797 votes, while Sowmya Reddy of the Congress bagged 57,781 votes.

With the announcement of the Jayanagar result, the last one to be announced by the Election Commission, the final tally of Congress stands at 135 seats, BJP-66, JD(S)-19 and others-4, in the 224-member Karnataka Assembly.

Sowmya Reddy is the daughter of BTM Layout MLA and former Minister Ramalinga Reddy.