It was a big win for Congress at the Gandhinagar by-poll. While the Congress candidate T Gopalakrishna won by securing 6,271 votes, the BJP candidate, Ramachandra, managed to secure 4,725 votes, losing by a margin of 1,546 votes.

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Other parties merely managed to scrape through: JD(S) candidate PK Suresh secured 408 votes; AIADMK candidate MP Yuvaraj secured 171 votes, and JD (U) candidate S Ashwath Narayan secured 37 votes. Independent candidates Abdul Gaffar secured 25 votes, K Ramesh bagged 10 votes and SN Ramesh secured 24 votes.

The voting for the by-poll was held in 30 booths on February 26, and the ballot count was held in Government Boys’ and Girls’ High School on Wednesday. More than 24,851 people cast their votes. Gandhinagar ward corporator’s position was vacant after corporator S Nataraj was murdered on October 1 last year. Nine contestants were in the fray for the post.

In the previous elections, BJP candidate Ramachandra had lost the elections by a margin of just 500 votes to Nataraj from Congress. This time, the margin was more than 1,000 votes. The by-poll was virtually a contest between arch rivals, Gandhinagar MLA Dinesh Gundu Rao and BJP MP PC Mohan. After winning the elections, Gundu Rao said that the Congress won because people were tired of the BJP’s corruption. Most of the MLAs are facing charges in the court. The BJP believes in making money rather than working for people. “The Congress won because of the development work it carried out in the city and the state,” he said, adding that Mohan took advantage of Murugan, who was accused of Nataraj’s murder.

Gundu Rao promised that he will develop initiatives that corporator Nataraj aspired to do for people, he said. The Congress later celebrated its victory in a grand manner, by shouting slogans and cheering for the party.