Bengaluru: The Congress on Wednesday won the Jayanagar Assembly constituency, taking its tally in Karnataka Assembly to 80. Congress candidate Sowmya Reddy defeated BJP’s BN Prahlad in the polls, voting for which was held on June 11.
Soon after the win was announced, Congress workers started celebrations outside the counting centre in Bengaluru. 55% polling was recorded in the Jayangar Assembly constituency on June 11.
The assembly elections were held across the state on May 12, but poll in Jayanagar was countermanded following the death of BJP candidate BN Vijayakumar, who was holding the seat.
BJP’s BN Prahlad, brother of Vijaykumar, and senior Congress leader and former minister Ramalinga Reddy’s daughter Sowmya Reddy are locked in a direct contest for the seat. In all, 19 candidates are in the fray.
Ahead of polls, Janata Dal (S) had on June 5 pulled out its candidate from the contest and extended the party’s support to its ruling coalition partner, the Congress.
This was the first election after coming to power, where both coalition partners had joined hands. Both Congress and JD(S) had fielded candidates against each other, despite being coalition partners, in the recent election to the Rajarajeshwari Nagar Assembly seat in the city.
Congress candidate Munirathna had won the seat, relegating the JD(S) candidate to a distant third behind BJP. The counting of votes for the 222 of the 224 assembly seats in the Karnataka state assembly took place on May 15. While the BJP had emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats, the Congress and JD(S) won 78 and 37 seats respectively. However, the Congress and the JD(S) joined hands to form a coalition government after days of drama.