Last Updated: May 14, 2023, 00:05 IST
Reddy was leading by 294 votes as she secured 57,591 votes and Ramamurthy 57,297 after counting.(File photo/News18)
An Election Commission official said the recounting of postal ballots in Jayanagar was ordered following an appeal by BJP’s Ramamurthy
Heavy security was deployed outside the counting centre in Jayanagar as a tussle broke out between the security forces and supporters of both the main parties – Congress and BJP – in the late hours of Saturday over multiple rounds of recounting of votes in the Karnataka assembly election results.
This came after the Election Commission (EC) ordered the recounting of postal ballots in the constituency where Congress candidate Sowmya Reddy is in a close contest with BJP’s CK Ramamurthy.
Reddy was leading by 294 votes as she secured 57,591 votes and Ramamurthy 57,297 after counting.
An EC official was quoted as saying by news agency PTI that the recounting of postal ballots was ordered following an appeal by Ramamurthy.
Congress state president DK Shivakumar and party working president Ramalinga Reddy among other office bearers staged a demonstration in protest against the poll body’s order.
Shivakumar tweeted a photo of him sitting with state working president Ramalinga Reddy outside counting centre and said, “The Congress candidate of Jayanagar Assembly Constituency Mrs. Sowmya Reddy has won but protested against the action of the election officials who tried to distort the result on the pretext of recount.”
Congress candidate of Jayanagar Assembly Constituency Smt. Soumya Reddy has won but protested against the action of the election officials who tried to distort the result on the pretext of recount, protesting against the vote counting center RV Education Institute Jayanagar, inside the counting center non-agent BJP leaders R… pic.twitter.com/9F9LGFwO05— DK Shivakumar (@DKShivakumar) May 13, 2023
The News Minute reported that BJP MP Tejasvi Surya and Ramamurthy have also arrived at the counting centre.
Of the total 224 seats in Karnataka, Jayanagar is the only segment where the result has not yet come out.