In what the ruling JDS- Congress alliance took as an emphatic endorsement of  the ruling JD(S)-Congress alliance by the voters, its candidates Tuesday won both the assembly constituencies Ramanagaram and Jamkhandi and two of the three Lok Sabha seats Ballari and Mandya in the bitterly fought bye-elections held on Saturday.

Congress’ A S Nyamagouda and Anitha Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) won Jamkhandi and Ramanagaram assembly constituencies Tuesday by a margin of 39,480 and 1,09,137 votes, respectively. Anitha Kumaraswamy is Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s wife. Congress’ VS Ugruppa and JD(S)’s LR Shivaramegowda won Ballari and Mandya Lok Sabha seats with a margin of 2,43,161 and 3,24,943 votes, respectively.  BJP’s BY Raghavendra, son of party chief BS Yeddyurappa, won Shimoga parliamentary seat with a margin of 5,21,48 votes.

The counting of votes for three Lok Sabha and three Assembly seats in Karnataka, which went to the bypolls on Saturday, saw an estimated 67 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the bypolls.

Elaborate security arrangements were put in place and police are deployed around the counting centres and strongrooms since morning, where the EVMs are placed, to ensure that no untoward incident takes place during the counting of votes, police officials said.

The Karnataka bypolls which was seen as a crucial test for the ruling Congress-JD(S) combine as they faced their first major political test since forging an alliance five months ago. The bypoll wins especially the win in Ballari by Congress leader V S Ugrappa were a significant one as the coalition partners had termed it a “prelude” to the 2019 General Elections.

Demolishing the BJP strong hold  Ballari sent a strong signal , as Chief Minister Kumaraswamy speaking to Newsbasics said ,” We are looking at winning 28 out of 28 in 2019. If we have to sacrifice a few seats in interest of the alliance we dont mind. The objective is to root out the BJP in Karnataka”

The Congress enthused by the results celebrated Deepavali with a fervour like never before. Congress state President Dinesh Gundu Rao told the media ,” These by-polls were a test for the new KPCC team and we have shown that we are successful as a team. Every leader put in their best efforts in all the seats that the Congress- JDS won. Even the Shimoga seat is a moral victory for us, as the margin with which the BJP won this time is very small”

The BJP which was shocked by the defeat , refused to react except saying that it accepted the verdict of the people