BJP candidates win in Town Panchayat bypolls

The results of Town Panchayat byelections were out on Monday and candidates from the BJP were victorious. The byelections for vacant seats in Somwarpet and Virajpet Town Panchayats were held on September 3.

In Somwarpet Town Panchayat, byelections were held for two wards. Both the seats have been won by the BJP, thereby increasing the member strength of the party to 5. Congress lost one seat.

A total of 355 votes were cast in ward number one and 254 votes were cast in favour of Mrithyunjaya from BJP, bringing him to victory, while his close contender Bhuvanesh from Congress secured 75 votes. Girish from JD(S) received 19 votes and independent candidate Ravi earned four votes, which made both lose their deposits. Three NOTA votes have been cast.

In ward number three, Mohini from BJP emerged victorious with 216 votes out of the total 404 votes. Sandhya from Congress lost with 168 votes. Pushpa from JD(S) got 17 votes and lost her deposit. Three NOTA votes have been cast in ward three as well.

The president’s post of the Town Panchayat is reserved for a member from the SC community. In the last elections, BJP which had a strength of three members had made it to the post of president as there were no winning candidates from SC communities in the other parties.

Udayshankar from Congress who had won from ward number one and panchayat former president Nalini Ganesh from BJP had passed away due to Covid-19, resulting in the byelection.

Now, as the SC member has won from BJP, the party has effortlessly got the president’s post.

As the results were announced, the BJP workers celebrated at Puttappa Circle in the town. Madikeri MLA Appachu Ranjan was present. Sweets were distributed.

The counting of votes was held at the election unit of the taluk office in Somwarpet.

In Virajpet

Vinank Kuttappa from BJP won by a margin of 60 votes in the byelections for Virajpet TP in ward number 13. Madanda Thimayya from Congress secured 178 votes, while Vinank got 238 votes.

The seat was vacant as the member of ward number 13, K B Harshavardhan from BJP, who was also the vice president of the TP had passed away.

With the winning of Vinank, the BJP has retained its seat and the strength of members from various parties remains the same.

There are eight members from BJP, six members from Congress, one member from JD(S) and three independent candidates.

Winning candidate Vinank Kuttappa is the son of BJP district former president Suja Kushalappa.

Pradeep Kumar and Lal Kumar were the returning officer and the assistant returning officer of the byelection respectively.

The counting of votes was held at the Mini Vidhana Soudha of the town.

The BJP members celebrated the victory by taking out a procession from Murnad Road to Meenupete. Firecrackers were burst and sweets were distributed.