Udupi, (The Hindu): The notable losers in the local body elections for Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) included CMC President, Meenakshi Bannanje of the Congress from Bannanje ward.

She was defeated by Vijay K. of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by 804 votes.

The Bailoor ward in Udupi got a lot of attention as the BJP had fielded a strong candidate, Mahesh Thakur. However, Ramesh Kanchan of the Congress retained the ward by a margin of 121 votes.

Amruta Krishnamurthy, former vice-president of Udupi CMC and Congress candidate, won from the Kinnimulki ward for the fourth successive time. She defeated Jyoti Shetty of BJP by a margin of 655 votes.

The BJP’s Harish Shetty defeated the former Vice President of Udupi CMC, Renold Praveen Kumar of Congress party in Ambalpady ward by a margin of 347 votes.

Every vote counts and this was illustrated in the results of the Todukattu ward in Saligram Town Panchayat, where the Congress candidate, Puneet Poojary defeated the BJP candidate Karunakara by just one vote. Mr. Poojary polled 355 votes, while Mr. Karunakara got 354 votes.

In Karkala TMC polls, Mamata Poojary of BJP defeated Congress candidate, Pushpa by a margin of mere two votes. Ms. Poojary polled 376 votes, while Ms. Pushpa got 374 votes.

In Udupi CMC polls too, the BJP candidate, Raju defeated the Congress candidate, Pranam Kumar by just three votes. Mr. Raju got 912 votes and Mr. Kumar 909 votes.

Those who switched sides appeared to a have a better luck in the Udupi CMC polls. Edlin Karkada and Geeta Shet, who were earlier in Congress party switched over to the BJP and both of them won.

Ms. Shet, who felt humiliated in the Congress party, left it and contested as BJP candidate from Kadiyali ward. She defeated the Congress candidate Asha Kadiyali by 868 votes.