The ruling Congress on Saturday won the by-election to the Humnabad assembly seat in Karnataka.
The Congress' Rajashekhar Patil got 38,758 votes as against his nearest Janata Dal-Secular rival Mirajuddin Patel's 29,438.
The BJP's Subash Kallur (28,954 votes) was relegated to the third spot.
The by-poll was necessitated as the Supreme Court, on a petition, had set aside the election of Kallur.