Even though there are no surprises in the Council polls which was held on Friday, the ruling Congress, as anticipated, won all the four seats it contested in the biennial elections to the Karnataka legislative Council from the State Assembly. While the BJP won two, the Janata Dal (Secular) won the seventh seat. However, independents have preferred the second candidate of the BJP over JD(S) candidate.
But the JD(S) had to face humiliation in the hotly contested election as its second nominee Venkatapathy securing only five seats, while BJP’s second candidate leher Singh secured 27 votes in the first round and emerged victorious after counting of second preferential votes. lehar Singh’s (a close confidant of lingayat strongman Yeddyurappa) victory is seen as a morale booster for the party.
The Congress candidates who emerged victorious were Youth Congress president Rizwan Arshad who received the highest number of 34 votes, former Minister RB Thimmapur 33, former KPCC president Allum Veerabhadrappa 32 and former Kodagu ZP President Veena Achaiah 31.
For BJP former Minister V Sommanna won securing 31 votes, while former BJP Karnataka unit treasurer lehar Singh was declared elected on the second round securing 27 votes in the first count. While the first candidate of JD(S) KV Naraswamy secured 30 votes and declared elected, Venkatapathy lost badly securing only five votes.
A candidate required support of atleast 29 MlAs to register the victory. The ruling Congress with its strength of 123 members, (excluding the Speaker) could easily get four seats. All the 225 members of the Assembly, including the nominated member and Speaker cast their votes. Two votes were declared invalid.
Polling was held to fill seven seats in the Council, for which Members of the legislative Assembly (MlAs) form the electoral college. However, it was the fight between BJP and JD(S) to get a second candidate elected, that has raised the heat. BJP has fielded former minister V Somanna and lehar Singh, while JD(S) has put up K V Narayanaswamy and Venkatapathy.
Both BJP and JD(S) were in a position to ensure the victory of just one candidate each on the basis of their strength in the Assembly. While BJP has 44 members, JD(S) has 40.
Both parties needed to mobilise the support of independents and members of smaller parties to ensure the victory of their second candidate.
Earlier in the day both the Congress and the BJP leaders had convened the meeting of their respective legislature Party members just before the start of polling to issue the whip for their respective members instructing them to vote for only their own party candidates in the Council and Rajya Sabha polls.
AICC General Secretary in-charge of party affairs in Karnataka, Digvijay Singh, arrived in the city to oversee poll strategies of Congress. He held discussions with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and KPCC president G Parameshwara .
The JD(S) legislature Party meeting, convened by H D Kumaraswamy to discuss the strategy for legislative Council and Rajya Sabha polls, exposed the rift within the party as many MlAs did not turn up at the meeting. Only 23 of the 40 MlAs were present at the meeting, while, of the 12 MlCs, just three turned up, indicating the possibility of large-scale cross-voting by the party members in the Council and Rajya Sabha elections.
Rebel MlAs of JDs, Cheluvarayaswamy, Zameer Ahmed Khan, Akhanda Srinivasamurthy and Iqbal Ansari, who were among those who stayed away from the meeting, have already conveyed their decision to vote for Congress candidate K C Ramamurthy in the Rajya Sabha poll. The meeting also reportedly witnessed a heated argument between H C Balakrishna, the only rebel MlA who attended the meeting, and JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy.