Congress candidates who knew their fate

Udupi: A few Congress candidates seemed to have an idea that the elections were going to be tough and chose not to visit the counting centre at the T.A. Pai English Medium High School here on Tuesday.

It is normal for party candidates to come early in the morning to the counting centres as the counting begins, and make a quick exit as soon as they sniff things might not be in their favour. Also, there are other candidates who turn up at the centre only after the victory is assured.

The Congress candidates who did not turn up at the counting centers include Congress candidate for Udupi Assembly Constituency, Pramod Madhwaraj, Minister of State for Fisheries, Youth Empowerment and Sports, K. Gopal Poojary, Congress candidate from Byndoor seat, and H. Gopal Bhandary, Congress candidate from Karkala seat. All three of them lost at their respective constituencies.

Congress candidate from Kaup,Vinay Kumar Sorake,was the first to turn up at the centre by 7.15 a.m. and was later followed by BJP candidate from Kaup,Lalaji Mendon. Congress candidate for Kundapur, Rakesh Malli sensed that he was losing and left the centre on the pretext of taking medicine. He refused to talk to the presspersons claiming that the counting was still going on.

Mr. Sorake left after all rounds of counting were over, but he refused to speak to the presspersons. Congress leaders had to put up with chants of ‘Modi, Modi’ by the BJP workers as they left the centre.