The Congress party and the Janata Dal- Secular (JD-S) alliance has won both the assembly seats in Karnataka in the recently held by-polls.
Elections in the three Lok Sabha and two Assembly constituencies were held on November 3.
Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy's wife Anitha Kumaraswamy, the ruling combine’s candidate for the Karnataka by-election, has won the Ramanagara seat with a margin of 109137 votes and Congress's AS Nyamagouda has won Jamkhandi assembly seat by a margin of 39480 votes.
On the other hand, JD(S)' LR Shivaramegowda has won the Mandya parliamentary seat with a margin of 324943 votes.
Speaking at a press conference, CM H D Kumaraswamy said, "I congratulate Congress leaders in the state & at the Centre. I also congratulate JDS state leaders & workers who worked towards this win. BJP calls JDS-Congress coalition 'Apavitra Maitri', today that contention has been nullified".
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"This election was the first step. There are 28 LS seats, we'll work with Congress to win all of them, that is our goal. This is not an empty boast just because we have won today. This is the confidence of people in us. This win is not making us arrogant," he added.
HIGHLIGHTS:
1:55 pm: Congress candidate V S Ugrappa wins Ballari Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 2,43,161 votes.
1:47 pm: BJP's BY Raghavendra has also won the Shimoga parliamentary seat with a margin of 52148 votes. Raghavendra has attributed his victory to the party workers and the leaders.
1:44 pm: Congress' VS Ugruppa wins Bellary parliamentary seat with a margin of 243161 votes.
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1:30 pm: I never said do or don't celebrate Tipu Jayanti. All I had said was there are many communities in the country, people want to celebrate Jayantis of their leaders. If they (BJP) don't like to be part of the celebrations, there is no need to participate: Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy.
1:25 pm: JD(S)' LR Shivaramegowda wins Mandya parliamentary seat with a margin of 324943 votes.
1:22 pm: This election was the first step. There are 28 LS seats, we'll work with Congress to win all of them, that is our goal. This is not an empty boast just because we have won today. This is the confidence of people in us. This win is not making us arrogant: JD(S) leader and Karnataka CM.
1 pm: BJP's BY Raghavendra wins Shimoga parliamentary seat with a margin of 52,148 votes.
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The results are being seen as a prestigious popularity test for the ruling Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition.
The constituencies that went to polls on November 3 are Bellary, Shimoga, Mandya, Ramanagara and Jhamkandi.
At the end of the stipulated voting period, Bellary parliamentary constituency had recorded the highest voter turnout (63.85 per cent) among the three Lok Sabha constituencies while Mandya saw the least (53.93 per cent). Among the assembly constituencies, Jamakhandi recorded 81.58 per cent while Ramanagara saw 73. 71 per cent voter turnout.
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A total of 31 candidates were in the fray from all the five constituencies, though the contest is mainly between the Congress-JDS combine and the BJP.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made to ensure to that no untoward incident takes place during the counting of votes, police officials said.
Police have been deployed around the counting centres and strongrooms where the EVMs are placed, they said.
With inputs from agencies
