BJP’s S.V. Sankanur gets a second term
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As many as 8,772 votes declared invalid out of 52,041 in West Graduates Constituency
Belying expectations of a shut combat, the election to the Karnataka West Graduates Constituency turned out to be a one-sided affair with BJP candidate S.V. Sankanur registering a straightforward win to realize entry to the Legislative Council for the second time. With the win, the BJP has gained the seat for the third time now.
After the fourth spherical of counting of votes at University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Dharwad concluded on Tuesday evening, Returning Officer and Regional Commissioner Amlan Aditya Biswas declared Prof. Sankanur, who secured 23,857 first desire votes, as elected.
His nearest rival R.M. Kuberappa of the Congress secured 12,448 first desire votes and Independent candidate Basavaraj Gurikar, who was supported by Janata Dal(Secular), secured 6,188 votes. Although Janata Dal(S) candidate Shivashankar Kallur had withdrawn from the competition in help of Mr. Gurikar, 102 voters forged their votes for him.
What was stunning was that 8,772 votes have been declared as rejected out of the whole 52,041 leaving 43,269 as legitimate votes. Despite being graduates, many citizens didn’t know how one can forged preferential votes. Not following the rules, many citizens had forged their votes writing down the “right” and “cross” marks, by drawing circles and even writing the candidates serial quantity in entrance of their names within the poll papers, thus making their votes invalid. Election officers and even ballot brokers expressed dismay over the event.
As per the rules, the winner needed to safe 21,636 votes for his election and Prof. Sankanur polled 23,857 votes. However, his successful margin was lower than that of the 2014 election’s. While Prof. Sankanur had gained towards the previous Minister Basavaraj Horatti’s son Vasant Horatti in 2014 with a margin of 14,000 votes, this time it bought diminished to 11,409.
For the file, there have been 11 candidates within the fray. Barring the primary three candidates, the votes polled by the opposite candidates didn’t cross 4 digits. In reality, 4 candidates polled lower than 100 votes.
Addressing presspersons after his win, Prof. Sankanur thanked the voters for reimposing their religion in him and thanked all of the BJP leaders and staff for his or her efforts and cooperation.
However, Prof. Kuberappa stated that he was not pleased with the choice of the graduate voters, who, he stated, had voted for a candidate who neither labored for them nor met them to listen to their grievances. “But, as a Congressman, I would continue to work for the graduates and teachers, as I have been doing for the past four decades,” he stated.
Mr. Basavaraj Gurikar stated that he would settle for the choice of the voters however would proceed to work for the reason for lecturers and graduates.
Earlier, as per the route of the Election Commission, the strongroom the place the poll packing containers have been stored, was opened at 7.55 a.m. within the presence of the candidates and authorised brokers, Election Observer and Additional Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh and Returning Officer and Regional Commissioner Amlan Aditya Biswas and different officers.
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