The Hindu : Karnataka News : JD(S) sweeps Tumkur district

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Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka

JD(S) sweeps Tumkur district

Staff Correspondent

The party wins Madhugiri and Turuvekere seats

Anita Kumaraswamy wins by 3,481 votes
Percentage of voting was highest in the history of elections in Madhugiri taluk

TUMKUR: The Janata Dal (Secular) trounced the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party by winning both the Madhugiri and the Turuvekere Assembly Constituency seats in Tumkur district in the byelections, proving that the popularity of its State president and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy in the district is intact.

Anita Kumaraswamy, wife of Mr. Kumaraswamy, defeated Congress candidate K.N. Rajanna, by 3,481 votes and pushed BJP candidate C. Channigappa to third place. Ms. Anita polled 49,768 votes; Mr. Rajanna 46,287 and Mr. Channigappa 31,257 votes.

As much as 80.4 per cent of the 1.69 lakh voters cast their votes in the byelections on Saturday and counting of votes was taken up here on Tuesday. Since December 7, when the former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (S) President H.D. Deve Gowda decided to field Ms. Anita, all eyes were on Madhugiri. The high-profile campaign in the taluk had attracted national attention.

The percentage of voting was the highest in the history of elections in Madhguri taluk.

Chief Minster B.S. Yeddyurappa took it as “personal prestige” and exercised all power at his command into the BJP campaign in Madhugiri. Besides him campaigning personally, a dozen of his cabinet colleagues who had camped in Madhugiri, carried out an aggressive crusade against Ms. Anita.

Ms. Anita, who is a novice in politics, winning against two veterans in the field — Mr. Rajanna and Mr. Channigappa — is a big achievement.

M.T. Krishnappa, Janata Dal (S) candidate defeated BJP’s M.D. Lakshminaryana by a margin of 3,301 votes in the Turuvekere Assembly Constituency. Mr. Krishnappa polled 55,827 votes as against 52,526 votes won by Mr. Lakshminarayana.

Congress candidate H.B. Nanje Gowda only got 15,226 votes. Jaggesh, who had won the Turuvekere seat on Congress ticket had resigned to join the BJP, causing the need for bypoll. As much as 76.16 per cent of the 1.67 lakh voters exercised their franchise in Turuvekere on Saturday. As the counting progressed, Mr. Lakshminarayana maintained the lead till the Chandrashekarapura hobli (of Gubbi taluk) booths were taken up for counting. Of the approximate 12,000 votes polled in the hobli, Mr. Krishnappa won more than 9,000 votes.

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