Karnataka by-polls: BJP wins 5, leads on another 7 seats

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], Dec 9 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won five seats and is leading on seven others, according to the trends of the by-elections held of 15 assembly constituencies of Karnataka.
While BJP candidates have been declared as winners from the Yellapur, Ranibennur, Vijayanagara, Krishnarajapete and Chikkaballapur constituencies, its candidates are leading on seven other seats out of the total 15 seats which went to polls.
Shivaram Hebbar of the BJP has won over Bhimanna Naik of the Congress by over 31 thousand votes on the Yellapur seat while K Sudhakar emerged victorious from the Chikkaballapur constituency beating Congress' M Anjanappa by over 34 thousand votes.
On the Vijayanagara seat too, Congress' VY Ghorpade lost to BJP's Anand Singh by upwards of 30 thousand votes.
The BJP candidates are also maintaining a good lead in the Athani, Kagwad, Gokak, Hirekerur, K.R.Pura, Yeshvanthapura, and the Mahalakshmi Layout seats.
Congress candidates, on the other hand, are leading from the Shivajinagar seat while its candidate HP Manjunath won by close to 40 thousand votes from Hunasuru seat.
Congress'Rizwan Arshad is also ahead by a margin of 14 thousand votes from the BJP candidate on the Shivajinagar seat.
One independent candidate, Sharath Kumar Bachegowda, is ahead by over 10 thousand votes from the Hosakote seat.
Surprisingly, no JD(S) candidates are leading on any of the seats that it had contested.
Soon after the trends, Karnataka Chief Minister had thanked the state voters for reposing their faith in the BJP and said that they would now continue to provide a "stable and pro-people government"in the state.
The elections were held for 15 Assembly seats which were left vacant after the legislators resigned in July, triggering the collapse of the Congress-JDS coalition and paving the way for the BJP to come to power. (ANI)