Bengaluru: The Janata Dal (S) is likely to wrest the South East Teachers' Constituency from BJP with its candidate giving a tough fight to the BJP candidate.
The by-election to Karnataka Legislative Council from South East Teachers' constituency was held following the resignation of BJP's Y.A. Narayanaswamy after he got elected to the Legislative Assembly from Hebbal constituency last year.
The counting of votes which begun on Monday, had given a big shock to the ruling Congress candidate, Mr T.S. Niranjan who was relegated to fourth place. After the end of the first round of counting, Mr Ramesh Babu of JD(S) got 5,251 votes, followed by Mr P.R. Basavaraj (Pepsi) of BJP who got 4,953 votes.
The JD(S) rebel candidate received 746 votes whereas the Congress nominee, Mr T.S. Niranjan polled just 496 votes. The counting of second preferential votes has begun and the result is expected to be out by Monday late night. If JD(S) wins this seat, it would be a big boost for party national president and former PM, Mr H.D. Deve Gowda and State JD(S) President H.D. Kumaraswamy who are nursing the idea of coming back to power in the 2018 Assembly polls. Last week, Mr Deve Gowda and Mr Kumaraswamy held one round of campaigning in the constituency seeking votes for their party candidate.
On the other hand, it would be a major upset for BJP if it failed to retain the seat despite hectic campaigning by BJP state president B.S. Yeddyurappa and a host of state leaders. The result would also be a warning bell for the ruling Congress which wants to come back to power.
