Jayanagar Assembly election: Congress defeats BJP to add one more seat in Karnataka tally

The Congress on Wednesday defeated the BJP in Bengaluru’s Jayanagar constituency in Karnataka where Assembly elections were held on Sunday.

Congress candidate Sowmya Reddy defeated BJP’s BN Prahlad by a margin of nearly 4,000 votes to add one more seat in Congress's tally in Karnataka. 

Congress' Reddy garnered 54,045 votes with a vote share of 46 per cent, while BJP's Prahlad could manage to win only 50,270 votes with 33.2 per cent vote share.

While the Assembly elections in Karnataka were held on May 12, it was countermanded in Jayanagar Assembly following the death of BJP candidate BN Vijayakumar.

Fifty-five per cent voter turnout was recorded in the Jayanagar Assembly constituency on June 11 when elections were held.

As trends showed Congress taking a good lead over the BJP, party workers started celebrating outside the counting centre in Bangalore. 

Congress workers celebrate outside counting centre in Bengaluru after party candidate Sowmya Reddy leads over BJP's BN Prahlad in Jayanagar assembly constituency. #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/OZWSTn1rUN

— ANI (@ANI) June 13, 2018

Ahead of the polls, Janata Dal(S) had on June 5 pulled out its candidate from the contest and extended the party’s support to its ruling coalition partner, the Congress.

This was the first election after coming to power, where both coalition partners had joined hands.