BENGALURU: Nothing could stop the hat-trick victory of Shanthinagar MLA N.A. Haris. Despite the controversies and embarrassment caused by his son Mohammad Nalapad Haris in an assault case, Haris managed to emerge victorious by securing 60,009 votes and winning with a margin of 18,200 votes.
Among the candidates who gave a tough fight to Haris was BJP candidate Vasudevmurthy, who secured 41,804 votes and JD(S) candidate N.R. Sridhar Reddy, who got 13,569 votes. Aam Aadmi Party candidate and former bureaucrat Renuka Vishwanathan managed to get 2,658 votes just above the NOTA votes that stood at 1,386.
In the first two rounds, BJP candidate Vasudevmurthy was leading, leaving Haris behind and the word got around that Haris might lose because of the misdeeds of his son. Though Haris inched ahead in the next rounds, the vote margin stayed around 2,000-3,000 votes. But in the end, Haris surged ahead, indicating that the voters have exonerated him of his son’s infraction.
In 2013 too, Haris had registered his victory against K. Vasudeva Murthy of the JD(S) by a margin of 20,000 votes. In 2008, he won against BJP candidate D.U. Mallikarjuna with a margin of 28,626 votes.
Haris dedicated his victory to the creator and the voters of his constituency. “Big efforts were made to defeat me. But my voters did not let me down. I have been serving them and they have chosen me to continue my service for another five years,” he said after the victory.
