As the first leads emerged from counting centres in the State in the morning on Tuesday, putting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the Congress by a fairly comfortable margin, the party’s office in Malleswaram quickly became the staging area for impromptu celebrations.
Over a thousand workers gathered at the office raising slogans to the sound of drum beats.
By late afternoon, however, the merriment died down after it emerged that the BJP had fallen short of a majority by a whisker. As supporters left, only mediapersons remained at the party office, where BJP State president B.S. Yeddyurappa held a press conference later.
On the other hand, things were quieter at the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee office in Shivajinagar and Janata Dal (Secular) office in Sheshadripuram. But by evening, crowds started gathering outside H.D. Kumaraswamy's residence in Padmanabhanagar.
Meanwhile, the five counting centres in the city were a hive of activity. Party workers had gathered at the centres — especially those in Mount Carmel College and Maharani's College — waiting for the final tally. The scene outside Mount Carmel College was chaotic with party workers thronging the roads and vehicles blocking the carriageway.
Opposite Maharani's College, hundreds of supporter of the BJP, the Congress and the JD(S) gathered at Freedom Park where counting was held for seven constituencies — Yelahanka, Byatarayanapura, Yeshwanthpura, Dasarahalli, Mahadevpura, Bengaluru South and Anekal.
Supporters were glued to huge television sets that had been put up near the gate of the park.
Pro-BJP and pro-Modi slogans rent the air after television channels started airing news of the party leading. There were counter-slogans by Congress supporters when prominent leaders were leading.
However, as news of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah losing Chamundeshwari constituency broke, Congress workers were disheartened while JD(S) supporters erupted in jubilation.
Basavaraju, a BJP supporter who came from Yelahanka, said, “In the morning, we were happy when projections said that the BJP was leading with 118 seats, but the trend did not continue for too long, which was disappointing.”
Published - May 15, 2018 08:51 pm IST
