Karnataka bypolls: Ruling Cong leading in both Bagalkot, Davanagere South

Bengaluru

The ruling Congress is leading in both the Bagalkot and Davanagere South assembly seats in Karnataka, where counting of votes is underway on Monday, for the bypolls held on April 9. The bypolls were necessitated by the deaths of senior Congress MLAs H Y Meti (Bagalkot) and Shamanur Shivashankarappa (Davanagere South). According to the Election Commission, Congress's Umesh Meti was ahead of BJP's Veerabhadrayya Charantimath by a margin of 17,205 votes.

In Davanagere South, Congress' Samarth Mallikarjun, who was trailing earlier in the day, is now leading ahead of BJP's Srinivasa T Dasakariyappa by a margin of 7,916 votes. Nine and 25 candidates were in the fray, respectively, in the Bagalkot and Davanagere South assembly constituencies.