Bengaluru: Voting for seven seats of the Karnataka Legislative Council began on Thursday amid strong confidence within the Congress camp, with Chief Minister DK Shivakumar casting his vote at the Vidhana Soudha and party leaders asserting that all five Congress candidates are set for victory.
Polling commenced at 9 AM and will continue until 4 PM. Two polling booths have been set up inside the Vidhana Soudha to facilitate secret voting by MLAs.
Congress Leaders Confident of Clean Sweep
Senior Congress leaders expressed optimism about the party’s prospects in the elections. Congress MLA and former minister Santosh Lad said the party was confident of securing all five seats it is contesting.
“We are very confident, and according to me, all five candidates will win comfortably,” Lad said.
Senior Congress leader Satish Jarkiholi echoed the sentiment, stating that the party possesses the required numbers to ensure victory.
“All our five contestants will win, there is no doubt. We have the numbers necessary to win,” he said.
Party Unity Despite Internal Factions
Jarkiholi acknowledged the existence of factions within the Congress but maintained that party legislators would vote in favor of the official candidates.
“Yes, there are groups in Congress, but they will still vote for the party,” he remarked.
Congress MLA Dinesh Gundu Rao also expressed confidence, highlighting preparations undertaken by the party ahead of voting.
“We will win all five seats with our own votes. We held mock voting for our MLAs yesterday and have sufficient numbers,” he said.
BJP’s Vote Strategy Under Spotlight
Congress MLA KN Rajanna claimed that the BJP’s alleged redistribution of votes reflected concerns about the prospects of the Janata Dal (Secular) candidate.
“Due to the confirmation of defeat of the JD(S) candidate, the BJP has re-allocated the number of votes. It shows that the JD(S) candidate will lose,” Rajanna alleged.
Why the Elections Are Being Held
The elections were necessitated due to the retirement of seven Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs) whose terms are ending on June 30.
The outgoing members include Congress leaders Govindaraju, Naseer Ahmed, Thippannappa, and BK Hariprasad, along with BJP members MTB Nagaraju, Prathap Simha Nayak, and Sunil Vallyapur.
In the 75-member Legislative Council, Congress currently holds 37 seats, BJP has 29, JD(S) has seven members, while there is one Independent member and the Chairman. Through these elections, Congress is aiming to strengthen its position further in the Upper House.
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