Promising start for Loksatta

The Loksatta party, in its nascent stage in the State, could not open its account anywhere, but some of its candidates put up an impressive performance.

With professionalism and corruption-free governance as its poll-plank, the party had fielded 24 candidates across Karnataka. While many of them got votes in three digits, there were candidates who stood in the third and fourth position.

State party president Dr Ashwin Mahesh, who had contested from Bommanahalli constituency, garnered 11,915 votes, while its Malleswaram candidate Dr Meenakshi Bharath, got 7,610 votes. Both of them took the third position. Others who performed well are Basavanagudi candidate Shanthala Damle (9,071 votes), BTM Layout candidate Ravikrishna Reddy (6,596 votes) and Hebbal candidate Sridhar Pabbisetty (6,271).

Unimpressed with the results, Bharath said the party needed to work more and change the general perception that it mattered more than the candidate. Bharath said Loksatta in Karnataka would concentrate on the next BBMP elections.