Kolar, May 13 (PTI) Congress leader Kothur G Manjunath on Saturday defeated his nearest rival JD(S)'s C M R Srinath in Karnataka's Kolar seat by a margin of 30,761 votes.

Former chief minister Siddaramaiah had expressed his willingness to contest from here but withdrew at the last moment.

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Manjunath polled 83,990 votes while Srinath bagged 53,229 votes. BJP candidate R Varthuru Prakash also gave a tough fight and was in third place with 50,914 votes, according to the Election Commission website.

In the 2018 Assembly polls, JD (S) candidate K Srinivasa Gowda defeated Congress' Syed Zameer Pasha by a margin of 44,251 votes. Gowda had sided with the Congress during the Rajya Sabha election last year in June.

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Interestingly, Congress leader and former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah also wanted to contest from the Kolar assembly constituency.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)