BENGALURU: The Bharatiya Janata Party has breached the Congress-JDS fortress of Sira -- a seat the saffron party has never won so far.
After 24 rounds of counting, BJP's debutant candidate Dr Rajesh Gowda secured 74,522 votes to win by a margin of 12,949 votes. Former Minister and Congress candidate TB Jayachandra managed to secure 61,573 while JDS candidate Ammjamma polled 35,985 votes.
The seat that has historically only elected the Congress and JDS to power switched over to the BJP with the efforts of an eight-member team appointed by the State Core Committee.
In Rajarajeshwari Nagar, the BJP decimated competition by registering a landslide victory. BJP candidate Muniratna broke his previous records to win by a margin of 57,944 votes.
Muniratna is all set to be inducted as a minister in the BS Yediyurappa cabinet as assured by the Chief Minister when he quit the Congress and joined the BJP and helped bring the party to power in 2019.