Congress wins 982 seats, BJP 929 in urban bodies polls in Karnataka

BENGALURU: Establishing a slight edge over BJP in a closely fought race in urban local bodies polls in Karnataka, the Congress is set to gain control of a majority of the ULBs, teaming up with its ruling coalition partner JDS.nnThe Congress has secured 982 seats and the BJP 929 in the elections held Saturday, while JD(S) came a distant third with 375 seats, according to the state election commission results.nnThe others, including 329 independents, bagged the rest of the seats in the three-way race with Congress and JDS fighting against each other, despite being coalition partners.nnBoth the Congress and JDS have declared that they would tie-up in ULBs which have produced a hung verdict.nnElections were held for three city corporations,29 city municipal councils (CMC), 52 town municipal councils (TMC) and 20 Town Panchayats (TP).nnResults for 2,662 of the 2,709 seats for which polls were held have been declared.nnWith the combined strength of Congress and JD(S) securing 1,357 seats, they enjoy a clear edge over the BJP to seize control of a majority of the ULBs.nnThese elections were considered the first test of popularity of the Congress-JDS coalition government, which was formed post-May assembly polls when it yielded a hung verdict.nnThe BJP had emerged as the single largest party in the assembly polls, but failed to shore up the numbers in its bid to form the government.nnThe ULB polls were also considered as indicative of the voters’ mood before the next Lok Sabha elections.nnCompared to its performance in the 2013 urban local bodies elections, BJP has fared far better.nnIn the polls then conducted for 4,976 seats, the Congress had bagged 1,960 seats and BJP and JD-S 905 seats each.nnElections for the remaining more than 2,300 seats is likely be held early next year.nnPolls to Kodagu urban local bodies has been withhelddue to the recent floods in the district.nnReiterating the JD(S) and Congress’ resolve,former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda said, “Whereverwe can form a coalition government to keep the BJP out ofpower, we will certainly do that.”nnBuoyed by the election results, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said it was a “befitting answer” to those who were saying that the coalition government was weak and would collapse soon.nn”The election results have silenced all those who have been saying that Congress has weakened, that it was lagging behind and its popularity was diminishing,” said an upbeat state Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao.nnState BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa admitted that the election results were not as per the expectations.nn”Results are not as per our expectation. The overall results satisfy us because we could withstand the money and muscle power used during the election,” he said.nnYeddyurappa said the results would not have any bearing on the popularity of the government because there were many local factors at work.nnHe reiterated the party’s resolve to win 22 or 23 seats out of 28 in Lok Sabha polls.nnThe ULB results show that the Congress, BJP and JDS have broadly held on to their position secured in the assembly polls.nnThe results were marred by an ugly incident in Tumakuru where a Congress candidate and his nine supporters were injured in a suspected acid attack during a march to celebrate his victory.nnInayatullah Khan, who won the election from ward No.16 in Tumakuru — around 70 km from Bengaluru, was taking out a victory procession in the morning when an unidentified person sprayed some liquid on the crowd and fled the scene, police said.nnAround 10 people felt a burning sensation and were rushed to a nearby hospital where they were administered first-aid.nnThey suffered minor injuries, among whom Khan had the maximum burns on his face, Tumakaru Superintendent of Police Divya V Gopinath said.nnDoctors said the liquid might be some low-intensity acid like bathroom cleaner, the SP saidnnPolice suspect the incident to be the handiwork of Khan’s rival, whose name they did not disclose.nnNobody has been arrested so far and no complaint has been lodged, the officer added.nnSource: Press Trust of India