Congress wins in Karnataka s twin assembly by-elections (Lead)

Bengaluru April 13 (IANS) The ruling Congress on Thursday retained the two assembly sets of Nanjangud (SC) and Gundlupet in Karnataka.

In the prestigious Nanjangud constituency ruling party candidate K. Keshavamurthy defeated his nearest rival Srinivasa Prasad of the BJP by a margin of 21 334 votes.

In Gundlupet Mohan Kumari Uruf alias Geetha of the Congress defeated nearest rival C.S. Niranjankumar of the BJP by a margin of 10 877 votes.

The by-election was held on April 9.

Of the 1 56 315 votes polled in Nanjangud Keshavamurthy secured 86 212 (55 per cent) and Prasad 64 878 (41.5 per cent).

The rest of the votes were shared by nine other candidates including Independents. The total electorate in the reserved seat is 2 01 823.

In Gundlupet of the 1 74 955 votes polled Geetha bagged 90 260 (51.6 per cent) and Niranjankumar 79 383 (45.4 per cent) while seven other candidates including Independents shared the remaining votes.The total electorate in the seat is 2 00892.

--IANS
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