Congress dominates Karnataka MLC polls amid cross-voting claims; opposition stunned

The Congress on Thursday (June 18) tasted its first electoral success in Karnataka after DK Shivakumar took over as the chief minister earlier in June amid claims of cross-voting.

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The Grand-Old Party bagged five of seven Legislative Council (LC) seats that went to the polls, while the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won two. Reports, however, cited sources saying that cross-voting happened from both the BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular), as the Congress candidates got more votes than expected.

A total of 222 MLAs (Karnataka Assembly has 224 seats but two seats are vacant now) voted in the elections that were closely followed. One vote was declared invalid, leaving 221 votes for counting. Eight candidates were in the fray for the seven LC seats to be elected by MLAs. The voting was held at Vidhana Soudha, the state legislative building, in Bengaluru.

All 5 Congress candidates win

All five candidates fielded by the Congress — Thippannappa Kamaknoor, P V Mohan, B K Hariprasad, Shivanna B S, and Vinay Karthik Prakash — emerged victorious. Hariprasad is the state Congress president. Also, the BJP’s two candidates in the fray, Lingaraj Patil and Raghu R, have won.

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The JD(S)’s lone candidate Govindaraju lost by polling just 14 votes.

The polls were held for the terms of seven MLCs — Congress leaders Naseer Ahmed, Thippannappa, and Hariprasad, BJP leaders N Nagaraju, Prathap Simha Nayak K, and Sunil Vallyapur; and Govindaraju of JD(S) are set to expire upon their retirement on June 30.

Congress had 4 guaranteed wins, it got the fifth too

Based on the numbers, four seats were guaranteed for the Congress, while two for the BJP. A direct contest had emerged between the Congress and JD(S) for the seventh seat. However, the results that came out surprised many, including Congress.

Cross-voting dominated all discussions after the results were announced, particularly when it came to the victory of Prakash, known to be a close aide to CM Shivakumar. He entered the fray as the Congress’s fifth candidate. The party had doubts about his victory but eventually, he came out with flying colours, bagging 32 votes, the most for any of his party candidates. Prakash reportedly benefited from seven cross-votes from the JD(S) camp and four from the saffron camp.

Jolt for JD(S) and BJP

This election also delivered a bitter experience for the JD(S), which is trying to make a return in state politics. Govindiraju suffered a defeat by securing only 14 votes. This result proves that the party’s MLAs did not remain loyal to its decision, triggering speculations over internal rifts. Similarly, the BJP also failed to produce an encouraging result, serving as a wake-up call for its state-level leadership.

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The latest result will boost the Congress, which recently saw the new government facing challenges from some newly sworn-in ministers over the distribution of portfolios. While the party already holds strong numbers in the Legislative Assembly, an increase in its strength in the Council will help it in passing bills and managing the government’s day-to-day legislative business.

Karnataka will go to the Assembly elections in 2028.

(This article was originally published in The Federal Karnataka.)