For the want of a vote...

A loss by a huge margin may be embarrassing but there's not much as heart-wrenching in an election as a loss by one vote.

And it took just that one vote for Dhruvanarayan of the Congress to beat A R Krishnamurthy of the Janata Dal (Secular).

Through the counting process, supporters of each group cheered as each candidate gained the lead for a short time. But despite the celebrations in his camp when the result was declared, Dhruvanarayan had to wait eight hours for the official declaration. For the unhappy supporters of the JD(S) had insisted that the votes had been miscounted and that the Returning Officer ought to recount them.

The final result was declared at 8 PM, and Krishnamurthy, who secured 40,751 votes, had to forget about a third consecutive term in office.

Till the final results were declared, tempers ran high in both groups and the police had to step in and use their lathis to stop a scuffle between them.