On Saturday, May 13, CK Ramamurthy, the BJP candidate from the Jayanagar constituency of Karnataka emerged victorious by a margin of just 16 votes against Congress candidate Soumya Reddy amid late-night drama that saw the two parties tussle over the prestigious assembly seat. Ramamurthy won by a wafer-thin margin after he demanded a recounting of votes as the margin of his defeat to the Congress candidate was too low.
Earlier, Congress candidate Soumya Reddy was announced as the winner by a margin of 160 votes.
“The result was announced by officials at the Counting Centre at S S M R V College in Jayanagar late tonight (May 13),” a statement from the state Information Department stated.
Congress state president D K Shivakumar, state unit working president Ramalinga Reddy, who is also Sowmya Reddy’s father, and many other leaders protested outside the polling booth at the R V Institute of Management in Jayanagar after BJP candidate Ramamurthy was declared victorious by a margin of 16 votes. In the final result, BJP’s Ramamurthy received 57797 votes, while Congress candidate Sowmya Reddy got 57781 votes
Congress claimed abuse of government machinery to favour CK Ramamurthy.
Taking to Twitter, Congress leader DK Shivakumar wrote in Kannada, “The Congress candidate from Jayanagar Assembly Constituency Mrs. Soumya Reddy has won. We protested against the action of the election officials who tried to distort the result on the pretext of a recount.”
ಜಯನಗರ ವಿಧಾನಸಭಾ ಕ್ಷೇತ್ರದ ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ ಅಭ್ಯರ್ಥಿ ಶ್ರೀಮತಿ ಸೌಮ್ಯ ರೆಡ್ಡಿ ಅವರು ಗೆಲುವು ಸಾಧಿಸಿದ್ದರೂ ಮರುಎಣಿಕೆ ನೆಪದಲ್ಲಿ ಫಲಿತಾಂಶ ತಿರುಚಲು ಪ್ರಯತ್ನಿಸಿದ ಚುನಾವಣೆ ಅಧಿಕಾರಿಗಳ ನಡೆ ವಿರೋಧಿಸಿ ಮತ ಎಣಿಕೆ ಕೇಂದ್ರ ಜಯನಗರದ ಆರ್ ವಿ ಶಿಕ್ಷಣ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆ ಎದುರು ಧರಣಿ ನಡೆಸಿ, ಮತ ಎಣಿಕೆ ಕೇಂದ್ರದ ಒಳಗೆ ಏಜೆಂಟರಲ್ಲದ ಬಿಜೆಪಿ ಮುಖಂಡರಾದ ಆರ್… pic.twitter.com/9F9LGFwO05
— DK Shivakumar (@DKShivakumar) May 13, 2023
Meanwhile, Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) national president Tejsavi Surya expressed his joy over the Jayanagar victory and tweeted, “WE RECLAIM JAYANAGAR! OUR HUMBLE TRIBUTE TO SRI BN VIJAYAKUMAR SIR.”
WE RECLAIM JAYANAGAR!
— Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) May 13, 2023
OUR HUMBLE TRIBUTE TO SRI BN VIJAYAKUMAR SIR. ??
With BJP’s CK Ramamurthy winning Jayanagar, the BJP won 66, meanwhile, the Congress emerged as the single-largest party by bagging 135 seats out of the total 224. The JD(S) had to be content with 19 seats.
