BJP throws a surprise at alliance partner JD(S) by nominating its candidates for five of six Council seats

Hours after the former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa announced in Mysuru that the NDA partners BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) will contest four and two seats, respectively, in the upcoming Legislative Council elections for six seats, the BJP sprung a surprise by naming its candidate to one of the two seats that was to be left for the regional party.

Hours after the former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa announced in Mysuru that the NDA partners BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) will contest four and two seats, respectively, in the upcoming Legislative Council elections for six seats, the BJP sprung a surprise by naming its candidate to one of the two seats that was to be left for the regional party.

The fresh development between the alliance partner comes amid the sexual abuse case, allegedly involving Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna, casting its shadow on the alliance.

While JD(S) sources said that in all earlier discussions, it had been decided that the regional party would be allowed to contest in Karnataka South-west Teachers’ and Karnataka South Teachers’ constituencies that the party held, the BJP on Saturday evening announced E.C. Ningaraju as its candidate from South Teachers’ constituency. Hours earlier, Mr. Yediyurappa had said that the constituencies were yet to be finalised in the seat-sharing arrangement.

The JD(S) was preparing to field its former MLC K.T. Srikante Gowda (who had earlier represented South Graduates’ constituency) in the South Teachers’ constituency. “The talks on seat sharing had been done during the finalisation of the candidate for the Bangalore Teachers’ constituency byelection earlier this year,” said a source. He added that it had renominated S.L. Bhoje Gowda in the South-west Teachers’ constituency.

Expressing surprise at the BJP’s decision to field its candidate in a constituency held by the JD(S), party sources said the BJP could be under pressure from within to field its candidate. “However, we are going to raise the issue and we are confident that the seat will be ultimately left to us.” Incidentally, Congress candidate in the South Teachers’ constituency Marithibbe Gowda had won on the JD(S) ticket four times. He had distanced himself from the party for over a year and joined the Congress in March 2024.

The biennial elections to the State Legislative Council are scheduled to be held on June 3 and the last date for filing nomination is May 16. The six constituencies going to polls are Karnataka North-east Graduates’, Karnataka South-west Graduates’, Bangalore Graduates’, Karnataka South-east Teachers’, Karnataka South-west Teachers’, and Karnataka South Teachers’ constituencies.

This will be the second major electoral test for the alliance after the Lok Sabha elections where BJP and JD(S) contested 25 and three seats, respectively. In the first polls post the alliance, the NDA had lost in Bangalore Teachers’ seat when the JD(S) nominee was defeated by the Congress candidate P. Puttanna in February 2024