The Karnataka assembly elections took a surprise turn today as the Indian National Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) forged an alliance to prevent the Bharatiya Janata Party from forming a government despite being the single-largest party.
But that wasn’t the only close contest. Thirty of the 222 constituencies, where polling took place on Saturday, were won by a margin of 5,000 votes or less. Of the candidates that won by a whisker, 19 belong to the Congress Party, seven to the BJP, three to the JD(S) and one to the KPJP.
A Lead Of Less Than 1,000
Congress’ P Patil of Maski, Kalaburagi won by 213 votes and V Ramanappa of Pavagada, in the Bengaluru administrative division, managed a 409-vote win.
BC Patil of the Congress won Hirekerur, Belagavi by 555 votes and his party colleague CS Shivalli won Kundgol, Belagavi by 634 votes. BJP’s GS Rukmayya of Aland, Kalaburagi scraped through by a 697 vote margin.
But the name that stands out on this list is of former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who lost the Chamundeshwari, Mysuru seat by 36,042 votes and won Badami, Belagavi by just under 1,700 votes.
(Updates the number of votes Congress’ P Patil won.)
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