People of Karnataka have once again reposed their faith in Congress by making it the No.1 party in Urban Local Bodi… https://t.co/0R4BtwL59V — Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) 1535975902000

BENGALURU: Establishing a slight edge over BJP in a closely contested race in urban local bodies polls in Karnataka, the Congress is set to gain control of a majority of the ULBs, teaming up with its ruling coalition partner JD(S).The Congress has secured 982 seats and the BJP 929 in the elections held Saturday, while JD(S) came a distant third with 375 seats, according to the state election commission results.The others, including 329 independents, bagged the rest of the seats in the three-way race with Congress and JD(S) fighting against each other, despite being coalition partners.Both the Congress and JD(S) have declared that they would tie-up in ULBs which have produced a hung verdict.Following the results, the Congress said that the people of Karnataka have accepted the development policies of the Congress-JD(S) government in the state and have rejected the 'jumlas' (rhetoric) of the BJP after the party emerged as the single largest in the local body polls.Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala , while thanking the people of the state, said that they have once again reposed their faith in the Congress.State BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa admitted that the election results were not as per the expectations."Results are not as per our expectation. The overall results satisfy us because we could withstand the money and muscle power used during the election," he said.Yeddyurappa said the results would not have any bearing on the popularity of the government because there were many local factors at work.He reiterated the party's resolve to win 22 or 23 seats out of 28 in Lok Sabha polls.Reiterating the JD(S) and Congress' resolve, former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda said, "Wherever we can form a coalition government to keep the BJP out of power, we will certainly do that."Buoyed by the election results, chief minister HD Kumaraswamy said it was a "befitting answer" to those who were saying that the coalition government was weak and would collapse soon."The election results have silenced all those who have been saying that Congress has weakened, that it was lagging behind and its popularity was diminishing," said an upbeat state Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao.Elections were held for three city corporations,29 city municipal councils (CMC), 52 town municipal councils (TMC) and 20 Town Panchayats (TP). Results for 2,662 of the 2,709 seats for which polls were held have been declared.With the combined strength of Congress and JD(S) securing 1,357 seats, they enjoy a clear edge over the BJP to seize control of a majority of the ULBs.These elections were considered the first test of the popularity of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government, which was formed post-May assembly polls when it yielded a hung verdict.The BJP had emerged as the single largest party in the assembly polls but failed to shore up the numbers in its bid to form the government.The ULB polls were also considered as indicative of the voters' mood before the next Lok Sabha elections.Compared to its performance in the 2013 urban local bodies elections, BJP has fared far better.In the polls then conducted for 4,976 seats, the Congress had bagged 1,960 seats and BJP and JD-S 905 seats each.Elections for the remaining more than 2,300 seats are likely to be held early next year.Polls to Kodagu urban local bodies have been withheld due to the recent floods in the district.The ULB results show that the Congress, BJP and JD(S) have broadly held on to their position secured in the assembly polls.