The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: While the overall results to the Karnataka assembly elections were clear pretty early in the day on Saturday (May 13), there was one Bengaluru constituency where drama continued well into the night – Jayanagar. Around 1 am, Bharatiya Janata Party candidate C.K. Ramamurthy was declared the winner by just 19 votes.
Earlier in the day, after all rounds of counting were complete, Congress’s Sowmya Reddy had reportedly been declared the winner with a margin of 160 votes. However, BJP leaders including MP Tejasvi Surya and MLA R. Ashok reportedly came to the counting centre and objected to the rejection of 177 postal ballots which the election officials had found to be technically flawed, The Hindu reported.
The BJP demanded a recount of the postal ballots, and the Election Commission agreed, according to Deccan Herald. Reports say there were multiple recounts.
This created a ruckus at the counting centre, the RV Institute of Management in Jayanagar. Congress leaders including D.K. Shivakumar and Ramalinga Reddy staged a demonstration outside the premises, saying the recount was uncalled for. Supporters of both parties shouted slogans and there was heavy police presence, including top police brass, The News Minute reported.
The Congress has alleged that BJP leaders Surya and Ashok illegally entered the counting centre to influence election officials. “Even though Ms. Reddy, the Congress candidate from Jayanagar constituency, achieved a victory, on the pretext of recounting, the election officials have tried to twist the results. Opposing this and the move to let Mr. Ashok and Mr. Surya, who are not agents, illegally enter the counting centre, we held a protest opposite the counting centre,” Shivakumar said in a tweet.
According to the final update on the Election Commission website, Ramamurthy got 57,297 votes to Reddy’s 57,591.