Bengaluru: Leaders of the opposition Congress party was cautious about predicting the results of the by-elections for which polling took place on Thursday. Opposition leader in the Assembly Siddaramaiah said that the party would win not less than 12 seats of the 15 because the circumstances favoured the Congress party. He, however, did not elaborate on this figure or analyse the poll percentage.
The chairman of the party's communication department and former Ballari MP, V.S. Ugrappa maintained that the high turnout in rural constituencies meant that people came out in large number to punish the turncoats (the disqualified legislators now contesting as BJP candidates).
However, Byatrayanapura Congress MLA Krishna Byre Gowda refused to ‘bet’ on the outcome saying it would be difficult to say anything now before the results are actually out. According to Mr Ugrappa, the BJP neither had a campaign theme nor any message to convince voters. They offered money to the 'turncoats' besides promising them ministerial posts he said adding, “Like the way voters in Maharashtra voted against turncoats in the recent assembly polls, voters here too follow the same trend. I visited several constituencies and I am convinced about this,” he said and added, he was also not surprised about the low voter turnout in the city.
Mr Byre Gowda said, “It is difficult to say anything now. We have to wait till Monday. As far as Bengaluru is concerned, middle class voters have not turned up. In rural constituencies, people are more connected with parties and therefore, they came out in large numbers to exercise their franchise.”
