Mysuru: At last Congress candidate Kalale Keshavamurthy tasted victory in the Assembly election after failing twice earlier by a narrow margin with JDS ticket. His third attempt under Congress ticket proved lucky for him with him registering a thumping victory in Nanjangud by-election by a margin of 21,334 votes while Congress candidate Geetha Mahadevprasad who contested the by-election in Gundlupet due to sudden demise of her husband Mahadevaprasad won by a margin of 10,887 votes. BJP candidate Srinivasprasad who lost in Nanjangud by-poll to Congress candidate Kalale Keshavamurthy told media that he will not take part in any election henceforth but will be active in politics.
When the counting of votes began in Nanjangud and Gundlupet constituencies, Congress started leading by a small margin of votes but gradually its numbers started gaining momentum. In few moments, BJP candidates Srinivasprasad and Niranjanprasad seemed to overtake Congress candidates.
But after nearly two hours of the counting, it was almost decided in Nanjangud that Kalale Keshavamurthy was heading for his maiden victory in Assembly election. At the end of counting, Kalale Keshavamurthy managed to garner 86,212 votes followed by his BJP counterpart Srinivas Prasad at 64,878 votes. In the last Assembly election, Kalale Keshavamurthy representing JD (S) had lost to Srinivasprasad representing Congress then by a margin of nearly 9000 votes.
Initially, Congress had to search for an ideal candidate to take on Srinivasprasad after he rebelled. Though the party did a lot of homework, they couldn’t come out a candidate to match the clout of Srinivasprasad. However, later they locked on Kalale Keshavamurthy who was with JD (S) party. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah intervened and summoned Kalale Keshavarmurthy to join Congress and contest against Srinivasprasad in the Nanjangud by-election. To everyone’s surprise and due to internal understanding between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and former prime minister H D Devegowda, JD (S) did not field its candidate for by-election. Though initially when Kalale Keshavamurthy joined Congress, there was opposition from some of the Congress leaders, they were pacified by the party seniors. It may be recalled here that Siddaramaiah campaigned for nearly a week.
After registering victory, Kalale Keshavamurthy assured of overall development of Nanjangud constituency especially that of Nanjundeshwara Temple and solving drinking water issues here.
Srinivasprasad who contested for 13th time and lost by margin of 21,334 votes said, “I accept defeat and I will be in active politics but will not contest any election henceforth. In the last three days of the election, Congress with the help of Kempaiah distributed money in police van. They violated all election rules to attract voters and distributed money to 1.2 Lakh people.”
Geetha Mahadevprasad who registered victory by a margin of 10,887 votes said, “The voters may have voted out of sympathy and also for various developmental works which was undertaken by my late husband. I will try to complete the ongoing developmental works including lake filling, providing drinking water to people of the constituency. I was with my husband for 33 years and I know how he was working. I used to be behind the screen but I knew how he was functioning. On the outset, I am ready to sacrifice my life for the progress of my constituency.” Geetha Mahadevprasad beat her BJP rival Niranjan Kumar by 10,887 votes. She secured 90,258 votes while her BJP counterpart Niranjan Kumar bagged 79,381.
