Mysuru: In a serious setback to the ruling Congress party in the State, Congress rebel candidate KP Ashwini emerged as the winner by bagging 1248 votes in the by-election for Ward 58.

The result for the by-election of Ward 58 which was held on July 10 was announced on Wednesday at Maharaja Sanskrit School. Ashwini secured 1248 votes, JD (S) candidate Manju stood second with 944 votes while Congress candidate GN Manjunath who is also a close confidant of Tanveer Sait was pushed to third place with 924 votes.

Ten candidates took part in the by-election, but it was triangular fight between Congress candidate GN Manjunath, Congress rebel independent candidate KP Ashwini Ananthu and JD (S) candidate B Manju. On Sunday, among 6126 voters, 58 percent of them exercised their franchise at seven polling booths.

The by-election was conducted due to sudden demise of Congress candidate R Ananthu. Though there was a rumor that the Congress will give the election ticket to Ashwini, wife of Ananthu to contest in the by-election, the party gave ticket to GN Manjunath. Upset with the development, Ashwini decided to contest as a rebel candidate.

Below are the details of votes secured by the candidates: