Karnataka Council polls: BJP wins 12 seats, Cong 11; ruling party falls short of majority in Council
Synopsis
Speaking about the elections, HD Kumaraswamy, JDS leader and former CM, said, “The national parties have used money to win the MLC election. The JDS fought the election on moral grounds.”
In a huge upset for the ruling party, BJP won 12 seats, Congress on 11 and JD(S) and an independent on one each. Meanwhile, with this JD(S) seems to have suffered a humiliating defeat and is likely to lose the seat of Chairman in the Council presently held by senior party leader Basavaraj Horatti.
The Opposition party has clinched 11 seats and could form a majority in the Upper House by forming an alliance with other parties.
It was a huge loss of ground for JD(S) as it managed to win just one out of the six seats it contested. The winner is Suraj Revanna, the 8th member of the Gowda family making a foray into politics.
Amid counting for the MLC polls, Karnataka Leader of the opposition in Karnataka Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah and BJP senior leader BS Yediyurappa said that they were happy with the results of their respective parties.
“Congress did well even while being in Opposition,” Siddaramaiah said.
BS Yediyurappa said, “The BJP's equation in the council has changed with the result. BJP will not need to depend on other parties anymore.”
Speaking about the elections, HD Kumaraswamy, JDS leader and former CM, said, “The national parties have used money to win the MLC election. The JDS fought the election on moral grounds.”
The voting for the biennial election to Karnataka Legislative Council’s 25 seats from 20 Local Authorities’ Constituencies was held on December 10 and around above 99 per cent voter turnout was recorded during the polls. There were a total of 90 candidates whose fates have been sealed in the ballot box. These include 20 each from BJP and Congress, six from JD(S), 33 Independents and the rest from smaller parties.
The election was necessitated as tenures of the MLCs are set to end on January 5. Of the 25 outgoing MLCs, 14 are from Congress, seven from BJP and four from JD(S). There are 75 seats in the Karnataka Legislative council and the ruling BJP has 32 seats.
The elections were held for two seats each from the local authorities constituencies of Bijapur, Belgaum, Dharwad, Dakshina Kannada and Mysuru; and one each from Bidar, Gulbarga, Uttara Kannada, Raichur, Bellary, Chitradurga, Shivamogga, Chikmagalur, Hassan, Tumakuru, Mandya, Bangalore, Bangalore Rural, Kolar and Kodagu.