This Article is From May 28, 2013

Periyapatna polls: Congress-JD(S) in head-on fight

Bangalore: The Periyapatna constituency in Karnataka is voting for its MLA today. This constituency in the Mysore district did not go to the polls along with the rest of the state in early May due to the death of the BJP candidate ahead of the elections.

The battle for Periyapatna is mainly between Congress and Janata Dal-Secular. And winning it is a matter of prestige for the Congress as it returned to power in the state early this month after nine years.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who took over on May 13, hails from Mysore district.

The Bharatiaya Janata Party, which was ousted from power in the May 5 assembly election, is also trying to bag the seat as that would help the party to get recognition as the Opposition party in the assembly.

In the 225-member assembly that includes one nominated member, the Congress has won 121 seats and the BJP and JD(S) 40 seats each.

The remaining seats are held by smaller parties and independent candidates.

The Congress has renominated K Venkatesh who had won the seat in 2008. His rivals are K Mahadev of JD(S) and R T Satish of BJP. Five others are also in the fray.

Vote count would take place on May 31.

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