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Siddaramaiah scrapes through

S. Rajendran

Bangalore: The former Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, representing the Congress, won the Assembly by-election from Chamundeshwari in Mysore by a slender margin of 257 votes.

He won against a political novice, Shivabasappa, put up by the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Bharatiya Janata Party. Mr. Siddaramaiah polled 1,15,512 votes and Mr. Shivabasappa 1,15,255.

The by-election was necessitated by the resignation of Mr. Siddaramaiah, who left the JD(S) following differences with party president H.D. Deve Gowda and joined the Congress. The nail-biting 27 rounds of counting on Thursday saw leads see-sawing between the two contenders.

In the last few rounds, the gap between Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Shivabasappa came down from over 3,000 to 257 votes, causing tense moments for partymen.

M.H. Ambareesh was recently inducted into the Union Ministry to give a boost to Mr. Siddaramaiah's campaign.

Mr. Ambareesh and Mr.Gowda are Vokkaligas, and the result indicates that the Congress has been successful in weaning a section of the community away from the JD(S).

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