Bengaluru: BJP candidate C K Ramamurthy won the Jayanagar seat in Karnataka by a slender margin of 16 votes against his Congress rival Soumya Reddy on Saturday, officials said.

“The result was announced by the officials at the Counting Centre at S S M R V College in Jayanagar late tonight,” a state Information Department official said in a statement. As the victory margin was too narrow, Ramamurthy had demanded recounting of votes.

Tension prevailed at the R V Institute of Management in Jayanagar where the counting was taking place as the Congress state president D K Shivakumar along with state unit working president Ramalinga Reddy, who is also the father of Sowmya Reddy, and many other leaders staged a demonstration outside the polling booth, demanding justice.

They alleged misuse of government machinery to favour Ramamurthy. Election officials declared Ramamurthy as the winner with a thin margin of 16 votes.