Congress bags Mysore, Dharwad, loses Chitradurga council seat

BANGALORE: Victory turned even sweeter for chief minister Siddaramaiah, when the Congress won two of the three seats to the legislative council on Monday. But the BJP will still be the majority party in the Upper House.

All three seats were held by BJP candidates and had fallen vacant with the members either getting elected to the assembly or joining former CM BS Yeddyurappa's KJP. Elections were held to Mysore, Chitradurga and Dharwad seats from the local authorities' constituencies (voters are panchayats, civic body members, legislators and MPs) on August 22, and counting of votes was on Monday.

The Congress won the Mysore seat with R Dharamsena defeating KJP's S Shekar, and in Dharwad, Nagraj Chebbi trounced former CM Jagadish Shettar's brother Pradeep Shettar. The Congress lost the Chitradurga seat to party rebel G Raghu Achar, who contested as an Independent against MA Sethuram.

In these polls too, the JD(S), BJP and KJP had put up common candidates against the Congress. The BJP lost the three seats it had held.