Jayanagar Election Result: From Tejasvi Surya’s ‘Interference’ to BJP’s Win By 16 Votes

The Karnataka ssembly seat of Jayanagar saw a tight race between BJP candidate C K Ramamurthy and Congress rival Sowmya Reddy, with Ramamurthy ultimately winning by a narrow margin of just 16 votes. The tense situation was further fueled by clashes between supporters of both parties and security forces during multiple rounds of vote recounts, leading to heavy deployment of security personnel in the area.

Senior Congress leader Ramalinga Reddy on Sunday accused BJP leaders of influencing officials after his daughter, Sowmya was “initially declared winner” of the seat by the Election Commission of India.

“The result was announced by the officials at the Counting Centre at S S M R V College in Jayanagar” late on Saturday, a state Information Department official said in a statement.

Karnataka Assembly Elections: Here’s What Happened

1. Election Commission ordered recounting of postal ballots as Reddy was leading by 294 votes as she secured 57,591 votes and Ramamurthy 57,297. The recounting of postal ballots was ordered following an appeal by Ramamurthy, according to a PTI report.
2. The Congress demanded state president D K Shivakumar, along with Ramalinga Reddy, the state unit working president and father of Sowmya Reddy, and several other leaders staged a protest outside the Counting Centre at S S M R V College demanding “justice” and claims that Sowmya Reddy had won the seat
3. Shivakumar tweeted a photo of him sitting with Ramalinga Reddy outside counting centre and said, “The Congress candidate of Jayanagar Assembly Constituency Mrs. Sowmya Reddy has won but protested against the action of the election officials who tried to distort the result on the pretext of recount.”
4. As the Congress continued their allegation of “misuse of government machinery to favour Ramamurthy,” election officials later declared Ramamurthy as the winner with a thin margin of 16 votes.
5. Ramalinga Reddy has accused BJP leaders of influencing election officials in Jayanagar constituency after his daughter’s defeat.
6. Speaking to CNN-News18 on Sunday, the party working president claimed that Tejasvi Surya, R Ashok, and a BJP observer from Uttar Pradesh pressured revenue and returning officers to demand a recount while the Election Commission of India initially declared Soumya as the winner.
7. Referring to Ramamurthy’s win, Reddy also announced plans to legally challenge the victory of BJP candidate. “Now, anyways they have given him a victory but there is a court too. Will challenge it legally.”