Will it be a first for BJP in Nanjangud?

Mysuru: Will former revenue minister and Dalit veteran, V Srinivasprasad be able to hold on to Nanjangud and win back his "self respect" as he has been dying to or will he be beaten by Mr Kalale Keshavamurth of the Congress ?  And will Ms Geetha Mahadevprasad of the Congress be elected from Gundlupet in place of her husband, the late minister H C Mahadevprasad? A win by her will make her only the second woman MLA from the region after Ms Nagarathnamma , who  won seven times from the constituency.

The suspense could soon be over with counting for the Nanjangud and Gundlupet bypolls scheduled for Thursday. While both the  Mysuru and Chamarajnagar district administrations have made all the necessary arrangements to make sure the counting proceeds smoothly, security has been beefed up at the counting centres with a 1000 policemen being deployed around them in each constituency.

Also celebrations of any kind, including bursting of crackers and provocative speeches have been banned near the counting centres and prohibitory orders imposed under section 144 of the Cr.PC from 6am Thursday  to 6am Friday and sale of liquor has been banned from 12am on Thursday to 12am on Friday.

The counting will begin at 8 am in both constituencies and the results may be announced three to four hours later. In Nanjangud the votes polled in 230 booths will be counted in the auditorium of the JSS degree college on Ooty road in 16 to 17 rounds. No postal ballots have been received in the constituency, according to Mysuru Deputy Commissioner, D Randeep.

In Gundlupet constituency, the counting of votes will be done at the St John's school in 16 rounds. Here 60 postal ballots have been received, according to Chamarajnagar Deputy Commissioner, Ramu.

Gundlupet bypoll: Wary DKS playing it safe?

Hours before counting of votes polled in by-elections to Gundlupet and Nanjangud  Assembly constituencies, energy minister D.K. Shivakumar on Wednesday declined to own up responsibility for the ruling party's efforts to retain Gundlupet seat, but expressed confidence that his party candidates would win in both places.

He told the media in Bengaluru that no individual leader was put in-charge of the constituency, but party workers were told to muster support for Mrs Geetha Mahadev Prasad.

"Voters in both constituencies are intelligent, and they have trust in us (Congress). I did not have any intelligence. My hard work was my intelligence. The BJP promised to take up developmental work, if voted to power. However, we are in power, and are implementing developmental projects. People have recognized our contribution and  trust us. We will win in both constituencies," he added.

In the run up to elections held on April 9, Mr Shivakumar focused his campaign on Gundlupet and was in-charge of the constituency though seven ministers were assigned the task of ensuring victory of the party candidate in each of these seats.