S N Bhat of BJP wins the election

KASARGOD: The LDF and the UDF won seven seats each and the BJP two in the 16-member Kasargod district panchayat.

In the initial counting the UDF emerged the winner in the Madhur division with a majority of 150 votes. But on recounting BJP was declared the winner with a majority of 12 votes, taking its seats to two, giving the party a crucial role in the number game.

Though, the UDF workers besieged the District Collector Minhaj Alam, who is also the chief electoral officer, demanding recounting for a second time, the electoral officers declared Sarada S N Bhat of the BJP the winner.

The poll officers also rejected the LDF demand to order a recounting for Padanna and Chemnad divisions of the district panchayat.

Here the IUML candidates won the divisions with a margin of 44 and 47 votes respectively.

The LDF, which had 10 seats last time, suffered a setback as it could bag only seven seats this time, while the BJP which had only a seat last time managed to bag two seats now.

With both LDF and UDF tied at seven seats each, it’s the BJP, with two seats, who will be the king-maker in the district.