Congress wins five seats in Karnataka MLC polls after surprise cross-voting
Congress wins five seats in Karnataka MLC polls after surprise cross-voting
M.U.H
19/06/202622
BENGALURU: In the biennial polls to elect seven MLCs from the Karnataka Legislative Assembly here on Thursday, the ruling Congress won five seats and the opposition BJP won two. The JDS, which fielded a lone candidate and was expecting the support of its alliance partner BJP, faced a humiliating defeat.
The victory comes as a morale-booster for the Congress government, and a shot in the arm for Chief Minister DK Shivakumar. The cross-voting jolted both the BJP and JDS. Eleven legislators, seven from the BJP and four from JDS, reportedly cross-voted to hand a massive victory to Vinay Karthik, Congress’ fifth candidate.
The Congress polled 151 first preference votes. Candidates BK Hariprasad, also KPCC president, Thippannappa Kamakanoor and Shivanna BS secured 30 votes each, PV Mohan got 29 and Vinay Karthik pocketed 32 votes, and emerged winners. BJP’s Raghu R Kautilya polled 29 and Lingaraj Patil got 27. Their term will be six years in the Upper House. JDS’ lone candidate Inchara Govindaraju garnered only 14 votes to face defeat.
“I am surprised to see the MLAs’ support for our government in the Legislative Council elections. This is not just support for our government. It is their support to us for the welfare of the people,” claimed Chief Minister DK Shivakumar. “They have supported us non-partisanly, saying they are with us in whatever step we are taking and moving forward,” he said.
How the math worked in favour of GOP to win 5th seat
“Our party’s MLAs have also supported us unitedly. We will maintain the trust of different parties that have given us the most votes. We will continue to serve you, knowing your feelings,” CM DK Shivakumar said. Eight candidates were in the fray for seven seats.
All 222 legislators exercised their franchise, of which one vote turned invalid, following which the winning quota for each candidate was fixed at 27.63. The Congress, with 135 MLAs, had the backing of three Independents— Darshan Puttannaiah, Puttaswamy Gowda and Latha Mallikarjun— and two expelled BJP MLAs ST Somashekar and Shivaram Hebbar, taking its tally to 140.
It allotted 30 votes to each of its four candidates, and the remaining 20 to its fifth candidate Vinay Karthik. Cross-voting by BJP and JDS MLAs threw a surprise as Vinay was able to garner the highest first preferential votes among all seven candidates.
The BJP, which has 63 MLAs, including Gangavathi MLA Gali Janardhana Reddy who merged his party with the BJP, too had fixed 30 votes each for its candidates, with a plan to shift surplus votes to the JDS candidate. But that did not happen as its winning candidates together polled 56 votes, which means the remaining seven votes appear to have gone in favour of Vinay. Though the JDS has 18 MLAs, its candidate could poll only 14 and the remaining went in favour of Vinay, according to sources. Since it was a secret ballot, it cannot be ascertained as to who cross-voted and whose lone vote turned invalid.
Returning Officer (RO) and assembly secretary MK Vishalakshi declared the results.
Meanwhile, another expelled BJP MLA, Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, had reportedly written to BJP national president Nitin Nabin saying he would be voting for Lingaraj Patil. Congress leader VS Ugrappa lodged a complaint seeking Yatnal’s vote be termed invalid, but the RO turned it down since he (Yatnal) did not reveal it at the polling centre.
Earlier in the morning, Congress MLAs who had been sequestered in a resort, arrived at Vidhana Soudha in buses in a show of unity, and exercised their franchise. Former CM Siddaramaiah and other senior leaders also cast their votes. DCM Dr Parameshwara, who was unwell, cast his vote in the afternoon. The JDS and BJP leadership also held meetings ahead of the polling.
