GULBARGA: Late Chandrashekhar Patil Revoor's family retained Gulbarga South Assembly constituency when his wife Aruna defeated her nearest rival Shasil Namoshi of the BJP by 3,532 votes. Congress candidate Dr Ajay Singh, son of former chief minister Dharam Singh, secured the third position.
Aruna Patil of the JD(S) secured 39,430 votes, Shasil Namoshi polled 35,898 votes and Dr Ajay Singh secured 35,567 votes.
Mohammad Khasim of the JD(U) got 647 votes, Shankar Jadhav of Bharatiya People's Party polled 360 votes, followed by Ashok R Dodmani (independent) (177 votes), Osman Ali Lakpati (192 votes), Bashir Alam (independent) (263 votes), Venkatesh Dorepally (1,282 votes), Shivkumar Kattioli (independent) 612 votes and SM Subhan Hussen (independent) 950 votes.
Though Aruna Patil was trailing behind either the Congress or the BJP in nine of the total 16 rounds, the margin in the remaining seven rounds was considerably high. The margin of votes were high in five rounds for the BJP and four rounds for the Congress.
Returning officer Amaresh Naik handed over the victory certificate to Aruna Patil in the presence of former chief minister and JD(S) state president Kumaraswamy after the counting.