Karnataka elections: Shivkumar staged a sit-in after BJP’s Jaynagar victory

Notably, BJP’s CK Ramamurthy got 57797 votes while Congress candidate Sowmya Reddy got 57781 votes, thus losing by 16 votes. After this, the leaders of the Congress party started protesting on Saturday. Later on Saturday, DK Shivakumar also attended the counting center.

BJP’s CK Ramamurthy was declared the winner after defeating his Congress rival by a slim margin of 16 votes. D Shivakumar alleged that BJP’s Tejashwi Surya and R Ashok were taken inside the counting centre.

Significantly, DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah are the main contenders for the post of Chief Minister in the state. In this assembly election, the Congress won one of its biggest victories in the state. The party had won 135 seats in the state, its highest score in the last four decades. DK Shivakumar defeated JD(S) B Nagaraju by 1,22,392 votes in the Kanakapura constituency in the Karnataka Assembly elections on Saturday.

With its massive victory, the Congress swept Karnataka out of power in the state. For the BJP, the defeat marked its exit from the only southern state it ruled.

BJP managed to get 66 seats in the state. The third competing party, which had a strong local presence, the Janata Dal Secular (JDS) won 19 seats. Two independents won, while Kalyana Rajya Pragati Paksha and Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha won one seat each.

The grand old party maintained its lead after the initial phase of counting on Saturday. Some consider Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ as one of the main reasons for the Congress victory.

Following the BJP’s defeat, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday submitted his resignation to Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot.

“I have tendered my resignation and it has been accepted,” Bommai told reporters. Basavaraj Bommai won the election from Shiggaon constituency with a margin of 35,978 votes. Karnataka voted on 10 May to elect representatives for 224 constituencies.

(With inputs from ANI)