Mysuru: The ruling Congress party suffered a severe setback in the recently held by-polls for Ward 32 of Mysuru City Corporation (MCC), Mandya ZP, Mandya City Municipal Council and  Kolar City Municipal Council with JD(S) candidates emerging victorious this morning.

In the by-poll for Ward 32 of MCC, candidates SBM Manju (JD-S) and K. Madesh (BJP) had to wait till the last round for the final results to be announced while the Congress candidate B.K. Prakash lost his deposit securing a meagre 329 votes.

It was a question of prestige for JD(S) party to retain the Ward and so it did as its candidate SBM Manju won by a margin of 307 votes securing 2,424 votes out of the total 4,923 votes polled.

His nearest competitor K. Madesh of BJP managed to secure 2,117 votes.

The counting of votes was held at the Maharaja’s Sanskrit Patashala next to MCC under the watchful eyes of  Returning Officer Priyadarshini and MCC Commissioner G. Jagadeesha.

Right from the first round of counting, both Manju and Madesh were going head-to- head but it was in the sixth round that Manju emerged victorious as he secured 602 votes compared to 434 votes of Madesh  in the final round.

Two independent candidates Mangala Gowri and B.J. Mahabalaraj secured 17 and 12 votes respectively while 24 voters opted for NOTA.

As soon as the results were announced, JD(S) activists burst fire crackers and shouted pro-JD(S), pro-H.D. Deve Gowda and pro-Kumaraswamy slogans.

Speaking to media, SBM Manju said that it was the victory of Ward 32 residents and added that he would make maximum utilisation of the remaining one-and-a-half-year term to work for the betterment of the Ward.

He also said that people had supported the party because of the works done during H.D. Kumaraswamy’s tenure as CM and also because of the works undertaken by former Corporator C. Mahadesh.

Manju also expressed his gratitude to legislators S.R. Mahesh, G.T. Devegowda and Marithibbegowda for his victory.

The by-election for Ward 32 was necessitated after the election of C. Mahadesh, who represented the Ward, was nullified after he was found guilty in a murder case and was imprisoned.

JD(S) wins other by-polls

July 5, 2017 proved to be a lucky day for JD(S) as it not only won the MCC Ward 32 by-election but also the by-polls held for Mandya ZP, Mandya and Kolar City Municipal Councils.  

In the by-election for Koppa ZP constituency in Maddur, Renuka Ramakrishna of JD(S)  won by a margin of 2,684 votes against Kalavathi Prakash (Cong). While Renuka polled 12,023 votes, Kalavathi got 9,339 votes. JD(S) candidate D.S. Raju won the by-election for Ward 28 of Mandya CMC securing 1,153 votes against Congress party’s Devaiah (946 votes). The party also won the Kolar City Municipal Council by-election.