Siddaramaiah wins Chamundeshwari by-poll

Former Deputy Chief Minister and Congress candidate Siddaramaiah retained the Chamundeshwari assembly seat in Karnataka by defeating the joint candidate of ruling JD (S) and BJP in a keenly fought electoral contest.

Siddaramaiah beat the ruling coalition’s joint candidate Shivabasappa by 257 votes to register his fifth win from his home-turf Chamundeshwari assembly constituency in Mysore near here.

The counting of votes in the high-profile by-polls held under unprecedented security at Maharani’s Arts College for Women in Mysore on Thursday saw the political fortunes of the front-runners swing like a pendulum. In the final tally, Siddaramaiah polled 115,512 votes, which was just 257 more than Shivabasappa’s 115,255.

The by-polls had been necessitated by Siddaramaiah’s decision to quit the JD (S) in protest against former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda’s “family-politics” and join the Congress.

Speaking to reporters after the by-poll result was announced, Siddaramaiah said he had not anticipated the electoral contest to be so close. “But, despite the misuse of official machinery and distribution of money, liquor and gifts by the ruling coalition, the voters of the constituency have stood by me”, he said.

“It is a vote against Deve Gowda and his son H D Kumaraswamy, who had abandoned secular principles to join hands with the BJP. The Chief Minister should own up moral responsibility for the defeat and resign”, he said.

Former Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly Dharam Singh expressed jubilation over the victory of the party candidate and former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. “It is a vote against the ruling JD (S)-BJP Government. It is certainly a loss of face for JD (S) national president H D Deve Gowda, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa”, said Dharam Singh.