Former CM beats his own expectations

Mysuru: Opposition leader Siddaramaiah surpassed the figure of 60% of polled votes in Varuna constituency, as he had claimed soon after voting at Siddaramanahundi polling station (south wing) on May 10. He got 572 more votes than what he had predicted.
Of the 2,34,533 electorates in the constituency, 1,98,740 votes were polled, taking the voting percentage to 84.74.
Ninth poll win
This is Siddaramaiah’s ninth win in the assembly election, and third from Varuna which was carved in 2018. He earlier had represented Chamundeshwari and Badami constituencies in the assembly.
Siddaramaiah’s return to Varuna, considered safer for him, has yielded desired results as he romped home in style with a lead of over 46,000 votes.
Though it was being touted as a tough battle for the Congress leader, he had it easy — right from the first round of counting, Siddaramaiah maintained a steady lead and increased the margin to 46,163 after the last round.
BJP’s V Somanna had mounted a high-voltage battle with national leaders, including PM Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, rallying behind him, but to no avail. BJP had upped the ante against the Congress leader to defeat him at his home turf by fielding the Lingayat strongman.
Congress expected to win with a margin of over 25,000 votes, but surpassed the figure. Siddaramaiah earlier had won with 28,000 and 32,000 vote margin in 2008 and 2013 from Varuna.