Acid attack on victory procession of Congress candidate in Karnataka, 8 injured

TUMKUR: Eight people were on Monday injured in an acid attack on a victory procession of Congress candidate Inayatullah Khan in Tumkur. Khan's supporters were celebrating his win in the Karnataka urban local body elections when the attack allegedly took place. 

Counting of votes for elections for three city corporations, 29 city municipal councils, 52 town municipal councils and 20 Town Panchayats took place on Monday. The Congress is winning 982 wards, the Bharatiya Janata Party in 927 and the Janata Dal Secular JDS in 375 wards. A total of 2,664 wards had gone to the polls in 105 ULBs.

Conceding defeat, BJP president BS Yeddyurappa said that the results were below the expectations of the party. However, he maintained that the election cannot be viewed as the mood of the people ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. 

After the results, JDS chief and former PM HD Deve Gowda said that the JDS and Congress will go together to keep BJP at a distance. Both the Congress and the JDS contested the polls separately despite being partners in the state government. However, they had declared that they would tie up post-election in urban bodies.

These elections were considered a popular test of the Congress-JD(S)coalition government which was formed post-May assembly polls which had yielded a hung verdict and also was indicative of the voters' mood before the Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP had ended up as the single largest party in the assembly polls but had failed to muster numbers to form the government, which paved the way for the Congress and JD(S) to stitch an alliance and take over the reins of administration.

Polls to Kodagu urban local bodies have been withheld due to the recent floods in the district.