A BJP candidate holds on 16 votes surviving Congress tsunami in Karnataka
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Bengaluru: In the onrush the Congress to power in Karnataka, one BJP candidate’s majority whittled down to just 16 votes, perhaps the slenderest margin in any polls in recent times.
C K Ramamurthy won the Jayanagar seat with 16 votes against his Congress rival Soumya Reddy after Saturday's late night counting, officials said.
"The result was announced by the officials at the Counting Centre at S S M R V College in Jayanagar late tonight," a state Information Department official said in a statement.
As the victory margin was too narrow, Ramamurthy had demanded recounting of votes.
Tension prevailed at the R V Institute of Management in Jayanagar where the counting was taking place as the Congress state president D K Shivakumar along with state unit working president Ramalinga Reddy, who is also the father of Sowmya Reddy, and many other leaders staged a demonstration outside the polling booth, demanding justice.
They alleged misuse of government machinery to favour Ramamurthy.
Election officials declared Ramamurthy as the winner with a thin margin of 16 votes.
With this, the Congress has won 135 seats in the 224-member Karnataka Assembly. The BJP has won 66 seats and the JD(S) 19, according to the Election Commission website.
PTI with superficial edits