Bengaluru: Congress Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday met the Governor of Karnataka, Vajubhai Vala, and tendered his resignation after his party apparently lost to the BJP in the crucial assembly elections in the southern state.
The Congress veteran met the state's Governor at the latter's residence and tendered his resignation.
Siddaramaiah submits his resignation to the Governor of Karnataka #KarnatakaVerdict pic.twitter.com/ay5biEnIM7
— ANI (@ANI) May 15, 2018
Siddaramaiah, who had contested from two constituencies, won from the Badami Assembly seat in Bagalkot district but lost in Chamundeshwari in Mysuru.
According to the Election Commission figures, Siddaramaiah won in Badami by a narrow margin of 1,696 votes over BJP's B Sreeramulu.
He lost to Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) rival GT Deve Gowda in his home district of Mysuru by a huge margin of 36,042 votes.
Earlier in the day, Siddaramaiah was reported to be trailing in both the constituencies.
In Badami, he led initially but then fell behind Sriramulu. However, finally, he prevailed over his BJP rival.
Out of 225 Karnataka Assembly segments, 222 went to the polls on May 12. The election in Raja Rajeshwari Nagar seat was delayed to May 28 due to the recovery of a large number of voter ID cards. The election in Jayanagar segment was countermanded in the wake of the demise of BJP candidate BN Vijaya Kumar on May 4.
At present, the majority mark is 112 as results will be declared for only 222 seats. While Karnataka Assembly has 225 seats, voting takes place for 224 constituencies as one is a nominated member from the Anglo-Indian community.
A total of 2,655 candidates are in the fray for the 224 seats in Karnataka Assembly. Among the candidates are four sitting and former chief ministers - the current CM Siddaramaiah, former BJP chief ministers BS Yeddyurappa and Jagdish Shettar, and JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy. There are 219 women, too, among the aspirants. While the BJP contested on all 224 seats, the Congress put up its candidates in 222 and the JD(S) in 201 seats.
According to the state Chief Electoral Officer Sanjeev Kumar 72.13 percent voters came out to exercise their franchise which is the highest in the Karnataka Assembly elections since the 1952 state polls.
Karnataka witnessed a high-decibel campaign with big names like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi leading the battle for the BJP and the Congress respectively. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is facing a tough battle to ensure Congress returns to power.
Siddaramaiah had on Sunday sounded confident of Congress retaining power and added that this was his last election.
(With ANI inputs)
