Elections for one seat out of seven in Legislative Council being keenly watched

The upcoming elections to seven seats of the Karnataka Legislative Council, to be held on June 18, is being curiously watched. The Congress is comfortable to win four seats and BJP two seats, but the election to one seat for which neither them nor the the JD(S) have the required number of votes is set to be interesting.

The Congress has nominated Vinay Karthik while JD(S) has nominated Govindaraju, forcing a contest. B.M. Farooq was also considered by the JD(S), sources said. MLAs will be electing the candidates, and with the disqualification of Vinay Kulkarni and demise of former Minister D. Sudhakar, the total votes available in the assembly will be 222.

As per a calculation, each candidate requires 28 votes to win, and the Congress has just enough numbers. While the Congress has 135 members, it is supported by two independents and one Raitha Sangha member. Two members expelled from the BJP — S.T. Somashekar and Shivaram Hebbar — are expected to support the Congress, taking the tally to 140, which is adequate to win five seats. “Since it is a preferential voting system, on paper, Congress could be winning the seat comfortably,” government sources said.

The JD(S), with 18 members and support of six votes from the BJP (votes left after ensuring victory of its two candidates), is also expected to receive support from Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, the expelled BJP member, taking its tally to 25. The decision of JD(S) senior member G.T. Deve Gowda, who has distanced himself from the party leadership, is not known.

“Will anyone say how the game of chess in politics will be played out? No one will speak,” Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar told presspersons when asked about the Congress’ strategy.

However, Congress party sources indicated that just to be confident of winning the seat in case of cross voting, the party is likely to increase the votes for each candidate to a minimum of 29, in which scenario, Mr. Karthik will likely require some more votes, raising fears of cross-voting.

“Since the voting is a secret ballot, it would not be known as to who may have cross-voted. Despite there being a whip, legislators could also absent themselves. Votes can also be deliberately invalid. We have had these scenarios in some previous elections,” sources said.