A H Basavaraj, from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was declared the winner in the Banashankari Temple Ward (180) by-elections on Wednesday. He will soon assume the role of corporator, in a ward and area, considered to be a JD(S) strong hold, until the BJP thwarted its rivals into power with a difference of 2,495 votes from his closet rival.
This would also strengthen the BJP’s presence in the council, which now moves upto 112, while the JD(S) suffers another setback and are now reduced to 14 seats in the council. Ansar Pasha from the Congress came in at second place with 5,406 votes, while Mohammed Akbar, brother of slain corporator Diwan Ali, manged a third place with 5,129 votes. Though, there were 12 candidates, all the action was between the three major parties; BJP, Congress and the JD(S), with every round of counting.
The win reasserts the dominance of the ruling BJP party, as the ward falls under Home Minister R Ashok’s constituency. 18,436 of the total votes cast were between the three contestants from these parties, while the remaining nine contestants bagged a meagre 519 votes only.
Basavaraj, who had earlier contested the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) elections in 2010, in Ganesh Mandira Ward, had lost to L Govindraj from the Congress by a slender margin of a few hundred votes. With his close proximity with the Karnataka Home Minister R Ashok, many had predicted Basavaraj to be elected Mayor of the city.
But his loss had proved fruitful for S K Natraj, who became the first Mayor of the BBMP.
The remaining nine contestants failed to even make a mark, and all of them stand to lose their deposit, as they failed to get a minimum of 10 per cent of the total votes cast.
Independent candidate Nayaz Pasha earned only 9 votes of the 18955 votes cast while Independent candidate Sheik Aslam bagged the highest number of votes among the independents with 181 votes.
Afsar Khan, an accused in the murder of Corporator Diwan Ali, filed his nominations from Bellary Jail itself.
But even he managed to garner only 80 votes.
“When I was filing my nominations, the party leaders asked me if I could win in the JD(S) stronghold. I assured them of my win with a margin of 2,500-3,000 votes.
I have lived up to my promise and thank them for their support,” said Basavaraj.
