Cong retains Rajarajeshwari Nagar seat where it contested against ally JD(S)

Bengaluru: The Congress today won the Rajarajeshwari Nagar (RR Nagar) Assembly seat in the city by a margin of over 25,400 votes. This is the first election after the Congress-JD(S) coalition government headed by H D Kumaraswamy came to power.

Congress and JD(S) had fought against each other, despite being coalition partners. JD(S) was left third in the race.

According to poll officials, Congress' N Munirathna secured 1,08,064 votes, against his nearest BJP rival Tulsi Muniraju Gowda's 82,572 votes. While JD(S) candidate G H Ramachandra, who joined the party, after quitting BJP ahead of the polls, came a distant third by securing 60,360 votes.

Muniratna has retained the seat.

While assembly elections across the state were held on May 12, polling in Rajarajeshwari Nagar was deferred to May 28 by the Election Commission after the voter ID controversy erupted and also on grounds of electoral malpractices.

Ahead of the May 12 elections, nearly 10,000 voter ID cards were seized from an apartment in the constituency.

Munirathna is one of the accused in the case related to voter ID cards row. Police have registered a case of election-related malpractices under relevant sections of the IPC besides offences under the People's Representation Act against Munirathna and others.