MLC polls: NDA’s K. Vivekananda, S.L. Bhojegowda get early lead

• Counting of votes at Maharani’s Science College for Women in city
• Results expected to be announced late tonight or early morning

Mysore/Mysuru: Just two days after the counting of votes of election to Mysuru-Kodagu Lok Sabha Constituency held in city on June 4, another round of counting of votes is underway today, for the three Legislative Council seats coming under Mysuru Revenue Division — South Teachers, South-West Teachers and South-West Graduates Constituencies.

The counting of votes for these three Council seats began at Maharani’s Science College for Women on JLB Road at 8 am. The voting for the biennial election, had taken place on June 3 by ballot papers system and preferential voting.

As per initial reports, K. Vivekananda, BJP-JD(S) coalition NDA candidate of South Teachers  Constituency, was leading against his nearest rival Marithibbegowda of the Congress by a slender margin after the first round of counting. 

Similarly, NDA candidate S.L. Bhojegowda was ahead of his nearest rival Dr. K.K. Manjunath Kumar of Congress by a considerable margin in the South-West Teachers Constituency, after the first round of counting.

There are as many as 11 candidates in the fray for the South Teachers Constituency. However, the Constituency witnessed a direct fight between Marithibbegowda and K. Vivekananda.

Nine other candidates in the fray are — Vatal Nagaraj of Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha, Nagendra Babu of Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) and Anil Kumar, Ambarish, Nagamallesh, S. Ningaraju, K.C. Puttasiddashetty (former MLC), R. Mahesh and K. Raju, all independents.

While Marithibbegowda of the Congress has won the seat for four successive terms spanning 24 years, the NDA candidate K. Vivekananda is contesting the polls for the first time. The Constituency, which went to the polls on June 3, had recorded a high poll percentage of 88.07. As many as 18,979 out of the 21,549 voters had exercised their franchise in the Constituency.

The South Teachers Constituency comprises the districts of Mysuru, Mandya, Hassan and Chamarajanagar, while the South-West Graduates and South-West Teachers Constituencies encompass the districts of Kodagu, Chikkamagalur, Shivamogga, Daskhina Kannada and Udupi and parts of Davangere.

The strong rooms at Maharani’s Science College, where the ballot boxes of the three Constituencies were kept, were opened under the supervision of Regional Commissioner Dr. G.C. Prakash, who is also the Returning Officer for all the three Constituencies, Counting Observer Dr. J. Ravishankar and other top officials of the District Administration. Later, all the ballot papers were bundled, with 25 ballot papers in each bundle, after leaving out the invalid votes. Subsequently, the counting of votes was taken up in 14 tables at around 12 noon.

Police have provided tight security around the counting centre, besides clamping prohibitory orders in city limits from 6 am today till 5 am tomorrow.

Counting of votes was on when we went to the press and the results will be known only late night today or early morning tomorrow as the counting of votes in accordance with the preferential votes takes a long time.

Dy. Commissioner Dr. K.V. Rajendra visited the counting centre and supervised the process. 

There are 8 candidates in fray for South-West Teachers Constituency — Dr. K.K. Manjunath Kumar of Congress, S.L. Bhojegowda of NDA and Dr. Arun Hosakoppa, Dr. Nareshchandra Hegde, Nanjesh Bennur, T. Bhaskar Shetty, K.K. Manjunath Kumar and Dr.S.R. Harish Acharya, all independents.

There are 10 candidates in fray for South-West Graduates Constituency ­— Ayanur Manjunath of Congress, Dr. Dhananjaya Sarji of NDA, G.C. Patel of Sarva Janata Party and Dinakar Ullal, S.P. Dinesh, B. Mohammad Tumbe, K. Raghupathi Bhat, Dr. Sheikh Bava, G.R. Shadaksharappa and Mujahid Siddiqui, all independents.

The results of these two Constituencies too are expected to be announced late tonight or early morning, it is learnt. 

Apart from South Teachers, South-West Teachers and South-West Graduates Constituencies, the counting of votes in respect of three other Constituencies — Bengaluru Graduates, North-East Graduates and South-East Teachers, which too went to polls on June 3,  have been taken up today. While the counting of votes polled in Bengaluru Graduates and South-East Teachers Constituencies is taking place in Bengaluru, counting of North-East Graduates Constituency is at Kalaburagi.

All the 6 Constituencies (3 Teachers and 3 Graduates) in the State had witnessed a good voter turnout in the polls held on June 3.