MANGALURU: In a morale booster for BJP ahead of three assembly bypolls in the state, party candidate Kishor Kumar Puttur won the Karnataka Legislative Council bypoll from Dakshina Kannada Local Authorities constituency on Thursday.
Kishor defeated Congress candidate Raju Poojary by a margin of 1,697 votes. While Kishor polled 3,655 votes, Poojary came a distant second with just 1,958 votes. SDPI candidate Anvar Sadath Bajathur got 195 votes while Independent candidate Dinakar Ullal got 9 votes.
In all, 5,907 votes were cast in the election out of which 90 votes were invalid. The winning candidate had to secure 2909 votes.
The result was on expected lines as BJP has maximum supporters as members of ULBs and gram panchayats in the constituency. The Congress failed to put up a tough fight and its election campaign was lacklustre as the state government was embroiled in MUDA and Valmiki scams.
The bypoll was necessitated after Kota Srinivas Poojary was elected to the Lok Sabha from Udupi-Chikmagaluru constituency.
After the result was announced, BJP workers took out a victory procession in Mangaluru bursting crackers and raising slogans in favour of the party and its leaders. Along with winning candidate Kishor, Dakshina Kannada MP Capt. Brijesh Chowta, MLAs, corporators and other party leaders took part.
Kishore thanked the voters for ensuring his victory. He also thanked the BJP leaders for giving him an opportunity considering his contributions to the party during the past 30 years.
“The tremendous victory for me in this bye-election is a direct result of the strong support extended by MPs, MLAs, gram panchayat members and other elected representatives from Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts. I will extend my gratitude to voters by fulfilling their aspirations as a member of the Legislative Council,” he said.
BJP state president BY Vijayendra termed the victory of Kishor Kumar Puttur as the voters' gift over the Congress government’s 'failures'.
He said the bypoll has once again proved that Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts are strong bastions of the BJP and the victory will boost the morale of the party to win the upcoming bypolls to three Assembly constituencies in the state.