Ruling BJP gets a drubbing in K'taka ULB polls - Business Standard

Opposition Congress in Karnataka put up a sterling performance in the elections to the urban local bodies (ULBs) as political heavyweight B S Yeddyurappa played spoilsport for the ruling BJP, but made no big independent electoral impact ahead of the assembly polls just two months away. The ruling BJP suffered a massive defeat, raising doubts about its prospects of retaining power in the state in the legislative assembly polls due in May. Congress won 1,960 wards as against 906 each secured by the BJP and JD(S) of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda in the March 7, 2013 polls, counting of votes for which was taken up on Monday. The polls in urban pockets of the state were seen as a "semi-final", coming as it does ahead of the assembly elections due by May. The Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) of former chief minister Yeddyurappa, who quit the BJP in November 2012 made its electoral debut, securing 274 wards. The former BJP strongman dented the ruling p arty's prospects, but failed to make much of an impact statewide on its own, exemplified by his party's performance in his home district of Shimoga, where KJP could secure only 34 wards out of 176 with Congress bagging 64, JD(S) 40 and BJP 24. The BSR Congress of former minister B Sriramulu, who had also broken away from BJP and tested the political waters, was also virtually wiped out as he could manage to win just 86 wards, eating into latter's votes. Independents made it big, winning 776 wards and are all set to play a key part in formation of urban local bodies where the elections have thrown up fractured verdict. Elections were announced to 208 urban local bodies (4,976 wards) - seven city corporations, 43 city municipal corporations, 66 town municipal councils and 92 town panchayats. Around 70 percent of 8.5 million voters out of state's total electorate of more than 40 million had voted on March 7. Congress won the city corporations of Davanagere, Ma ngalore and Bellary. BJP was routed in Bellary where mining barons Reddy brothers had a stranglehold, drawing a blank. Mysore and Gulbarga city corporation elections were marked by a fractured mandate with the Congress emerging as the single largest party. The Congress emerged a clear winner in the 60-member Mangalore City Corporation, bagging 35 seats while the BJP managed to get 20 seas. Mangalore is the main city in coastal Karnataka and was stronghold of BJP. JD-S, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and independents took the rest of the seats. BJP's poor show is a repeat of its performance in the last urban local bodies held five years ago in 2007 when it came third behind the Congress and the JD(S). However, the party was not in power then. It captured power in the assembly elections in May 2008. In Mysore though the Congress emerged as the single largest party, it is not in a position to get hold of reins of the Mysore City Corporation for the next fi ve years without sharing power with the Janata Dal (S) or independents. Perhaps, the most significant of the results was the dismal show of the BJP. In the 65-member council, Congress has won 22 seats, followed by the Janata Dal (S) with 20. Independents secured as many as 11 seats while the BJP put up a dismal show, winning just 12 seats. Among the independents are two candidates of the Socialist Democratic Party of India (SDPI), one candidate each of former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa's Karnataka Janata Party and former minister Sriramulu's BSR. If Congress and JD(S) failed to come together, the former had to seek the support of all the independents for an alliance. via Top Stories - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNFgCMIy31h5FyXJYKuzQrJsunYq7Q&url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/ruling-bjp-gets-a-drubbing-in-k-taka-ulb-polls-113031100595_1.html

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