Interesting facts have come to light on the secret ballot at the BJP legislature party on Wednesday which saw D.V. Sadananda Gowda emerging victorious over Jagadish Shettar.
For instance, former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa had to use two ballot papers while the party president K.S. Eshwarappa deliberately cast an invalid vote by ticking the names of both aspirants.
Of the 118 votes polled, Mr Sadananda Gowda secured 62 and Mr Shettar 55.
According to party sources, Mr Yeddyurappa, instead of ticking the name of the candidate of his choice, wrote his own name on the ballot paper.
Later, he realised that the space for writing his name was at the bottom of the ballot paper and not at the top.
He went back to the polling officers and demanded a fresh ballot paper, pointing out his mistake.
This roused smirks in the hall, with some of his detractors remarking that Mr Yeddyurappa could not think beyond himself when it came to the chief minister’s post.
The invalid vote was what kept everyone guessing till Thursday afternoon.
Finally, it turned out to be that of party state president K.S. Eshwarappa himself. Sources disclosed that after the meeting, senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley asked him about why he had voted for both candidates and Mr Eshwarappa replied that being party president, he could not take anyone’s side.
According to sources, when the Yeddyurappa camp arrived in a bus at the hotel where the voting was held, they had as many as 67 legislators but Mr Sadananda Gowda secured only 62 votes.
This proves that four of the votes had gone to Mr Shettar. Of the four, three belong to the Lingayat community, sources said.