Daijiworld Media Network - Ballary(DC)
Ballary, Nov 6: In the high-pitched by-poll battle, the Congress candidate former chief minister Siddaramaiah’s confidante VS Ugrappa defeated Bharathiya Janata Party (BJP) strongman B Sriramulu's sister and former MP J Shantha by polling 628,365 votes.
J Shantha polled 385,204 votes.
Ugrappa has also broken Congress former president Sonia Gandhi and Sriramulu's earlier record by getting more than 2 lac votes.
With this win Congress has succeeded in ending reign of Reddy brothers in Bellary. The Congress had taken Bellary seriously and had made all efforts to humiliate the BJP by handing out a defeat in by-polls.
V S Ugrappa (Left) and J Shantha
The bypoll, which saw a close contest between the Congress-JD(S) combine and the BJP, was held on Saturday and saw a 67% turnout.
More than 100 Congress and JD(S) leaders have campaigned in Bellary, asking voters to end the 'reign' of mining barons, the Reddy brothers. Interestingly, both HD Deve Gowda and Siddaramaiah campaigned here extensively.
The Reddy brothers had declared a war on JD(S)-Congress alliance, claiming that Ballary is their turf and Water Resources minister DK Shivakumar, who is in charge of the campaign, would have to go back disappointed.