Kalaburagi: BJP’s Namoshi Retains North-East Teachers’ Seat
The counting was held at Gulbarga University. Returning Officer Zaheera Naseem declared Namoshi elected and handed over the election certificate.
Kalaburagi: BJP's Shashil G Namoshi retained the North-East Teachers' constituency seat in the Karnataka Legislative Council for a second consecutive term on Tuesday, defeating Congress candidate Sharanappa Mattur by 3,297 first-preference votes.
Namoshi secured 15,596 votes against Mattur's 12,299 and crossed the required winning quota in the first-preference count itself. As per the Election Commission's guidelines, the winning quota was fixed at 14,191 votes, calculated as 50 per cent of the total valid votes plus one. BJP candidate Shashil G Namoshi was declared elected after securing 15,596 first-preference votes, exceeding the required quota.
The Congress failed to win the seat in Kalyana Karnataka- the home region of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and minister Priyank Kharge, as Namoshi retained the constituency for the BJP.
The counting was held at Gulbarga University. Returning Officer Zaheera Naseem declared Namoshi elected and handed over the election certificate.
Of the 34,784 registered voters in the constituency, 30,253 had exercised their franchise. While 28,380 votes were found valid, 1,873 were rejected.
The first-preference votes were counted in three rounds, with Namoshi maintaining his lead over Mattur in all three.
Among the other candidates, Aam Aadmi Party's Sayabanna Jamadar secured 40 votes and JD(U) candidate Shankareddy Patil received 44 votes. Independents Rajkumar K. Kalaburagi and Raju Devappa Sonna polled 167 and 127 votes, respectively.
The counting began at 8 am in the presence of Election Observer Shivakumar K.B., with police personnel deployed at the counting centre.
Returning Officer Zaheera Naseem thanked the officials, election staff, candidates, political parties and voters for their cooperation in conducting the election.