The Rajya Sabha by-poll result was on expected lines with BJP candidate Hema Malini winning the contest comfortably on Thursday. Of the 205 votes polled, Ms Malini got 106 votes while litterateur K Marulasiddappa, who contested as an independent candidate supported by Congress and JD-S, secured 94 votes. Five votes were declared invalid.
Though officers refused to divulge details of whose votes were judged invalid, it was learnt that one BJP vote and four JD(S) votes were adjudged invalid. Sources in the Congress said that since JD(S) had not nominated any agents to oversee the polling process, no one knew the voting pattern of their MLAs. The Congress Party nominated agents and ensured that none of its MLAs cross-vote in favour of the BJP candidate. It was suspected that a JD(S) MLA cross-voted while four others intentionally made mistakes on ballot papers so that their votes be judged invalid, sources said.
After her victory, Ms Malini took a swipe at her critics saying she found their perception of her being an outsider very funny.
Her entry into the poll scene had sparked a Kannadiga-versus-non-Kannadiga debate with a group of Kannada litterateurs appealing to MLAs to vote for Mr Marulasiddappa, a former chairman of the Karnataka Nataka Academy. But the “vote-for-Kannadiga-self-pride” campaign lost steam soon.
Talking to reporters after her victory, Ms Malini said, “Some people feel I should not come. I find it very funny”, she said stressing that as an artiste, she belonged to every part of the country.