BENGALURU: A day after voting was held in RR Nagar assembly constituency in Bengaluru and Sira assembly segment in Tumakuru district, BJP ministers have expressed confidence of winning both seats with huge margins, while State Congress president DK Shivakumar displayed a degree of diffidence on Wednesday.
“Everyone knows what happens to the ruling party and Opposition parties in any bypoll,” said Shivakumar, who led the Congress campaign in both constituencies. The Congress leader also said they had filed a number of complaints with the Election Commission about irregularities during the polls, and the Commission has taken note of complaints on misuse of administrative machinery and the highhandedness of police.
Responding to a specific question on what kind of lead the party was expecting in Sira and RR Nagar assembly segments, the Congress leader told reporters that he had confidence in their voters. Despite the initial diffidence, Shivakumar said it would be the Congress party’s victory in these elections, attributing it to his party members working very hard in both constituencies, besides leaders from other parties extending support to the Congress.
He said the State and Central government’s failure to respond to people’s problems was the reason for the low voter turnout of 45.24 per cent in RR Nagar. Meanwhile, in Mysuru, Minister ST Somashekhar said people of RR Nagar and Sira constituencies voted for BJP candidates and would be winning by a huge margin.
“The Congress candidate from Sira has raised suspicions over Electronic Voting Machines even before the results, which is an early sign of accepting defeat. The polling percentage will not have any impact, and our candidate from RR Nagar will win with a 25,000- 30,000 margin,” he said, adding that the Congress had tried everything to gain support, but the people are happy with the development work carried out by the government, and the results will be proof of it.