What happened in Jayanagar constituency; BJP candidate wins, ends stalemate at midnight [details]

On Saturday, 16 rounds of counting and three recounts were held at SSMRV PU College, where votes for the Jayanagar constituency were being counted after incumbent MLA Sowmya Reddy was declared the winner by a slender margin of 160 votes over BJP's C.K. Ramamurthy. The BJP leader subsequently requested a recount, which yielded the same results. According to sources, the counting has concluded, with BJP candidate CK Ramamurthy declaring victory with 16 votes.

On Saturday, DK Shivakumar, the chairman of the Karnataka Congress, accused election commission officials of attempting to manipulate the results of Sowmya Reddy, the Congress candidate from Bengaluru's Jayanagar assembly constituency.

"The Congress candidate for Jayanagar Assembly Constituency, Mrs Sowmya Reddy, has won but has protested against the action of election officials who tried to distort the result under the guise of a recount," Shivakumar stated, tweeting a photo of himself sitting with the state working president Ramalinga Reddy.

In response to the electoral body's directive, Shivakumar and Ramalinga Reddy, among other office bearers, staged a protest.

Earlier, the election commission ordered the recounting of postal ballots in Jayanagar, where Reddy is running against BJP candidate CK Ramamurthy.

Sowmya Reddy had a 294-vote lead when all votes were tabulated by Saturday evening. The turnout changed in the last recount, with the Congress receiving 57,781 votes while the BJP received 57,797 votes and declared victory by 16 votes.

According to an EC official, the recounting of postal ballots was authorised in response to Ramamurthy's plea. Jayanagar is the only segment in Karnataka where the results are declared at 12 mind-night.

Confusion among party workers to celebrate

Workers from both parties celebrated outside the facility, while Congress MLA and Ms Reddy's father Ramalinga Reddy was seen in the centre watching the counting.

By the evening, heavyweights from both the BJP and the Congress had congregated near the counting centre, including Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, Padmanabhanagar MLA R. Ashok, and KPCC leaders D.K. Shivakumar and D.K. Suresh.

According to police reports, the Congress leaders were barred from accessing the counting site because they felt it would add to the already tense atmosphere. After being stopped, the leaders attempted to force open the centre's gates, causing quite a ruckus.

The Congress leaders then staged a protest near the counting centre, criticising Surya and Ashok's admittance into the counting centre.

But finally, BJP declared victory.