U T Khader of Congress on Tuesday won the Ullal Assembly seat in Karnataka, defeating his nearest rival Chandrasekhara Uchil of Bharatiya Janata Party by a margin of 8,032 votes, official sources said.

Congress has retained the seat which was held by U T Fareed, father of Khader.

Coalition partners BJP and Janata Dal-United were involved in a 'friendly fight.'

JD-S, which had fought against its own coalition partner, lost the deposit with its candidate Aboobkar Natekal polling only 6,217 votes.

Over 50 Congress leaders, including Union Ministers Oscar Fernandes and K H Muniyappa and the entire state leadership had invested much time and effort into the contest, going all out to retain its hold over Ullal.

BJP had also campaigned vigorously to wrest the seat from Congress.

JD-S, which fielded its candidate at the last minute, had tried to woo minorities who dominate the constituency but could not do so, despite Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy plunging himself fully into the campaign.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist candidate Balakrishna Shetty also failed to secure deposit, polling beyond 4,803 votes.

Ullal has remained a bastion of Congress, which has won the seat six times since 1978.

The BJP had wrested the seat in 1994 and CPI-M in 1983.