M.K. Pranesh of BJP elected Deputy Chairman of Karnataka Legislative Council

39 members voted in favour of BJP candidate M.K. Pranesh while 26 voted for Aravind Kumar Arali of the Congress

BJP MLC M.K. Pranesh was elected as Deputy Chairman of the Karnataka Legislative Council on December 23.

When the process of election of the Deputy Chairman was taken up through headcount in the Legislative Council in Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi, 39 members voted in favour of the BJP candidate while 26 voted for Aravind Kumar Arali of the Congress.

The JD(S), which had not fielded any candidate, remained neutral.

Chairman of the Legislative Council Basavaraj Horatti, who was elected to the post unopposed on December 21, declared Mr. Pranesh elected as his Deputy. A two-time MLC, Mr. Pranesh has been elected to the Legislative Council from local authorities’ constituency of Chikkamagaluru district. He had been elected Deputy Chairman earlier in January 2021.

The BJP commands a majority in the 75-member Legislative Council with 39 members while the Congress has 26 members and JD(S) has 8. The lone independent MLC Lakhan Jarkiholi was absent.

Election of the Deputy Chairman was preceded by an angry exchange of words between the Congress and JD(S) members. When JD(S) floor leader S.L. Bojegowda questioned the Congress party’s ‘double standards’ over fielding a candidate for Deputy Chairman’s post while staying out of the race for the Chairman’s post, Congress member U.B. Venkatesh was on his feet, taking objection to the charge.

Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council B.K. Hariprasad sought to clarify that the Congress party did not field a candidate for the Chairman’s post in keeping with the highest parliamentary practices of facilitating a unanimous choice for the post. Even for the election of the Deputy Chairman, the party leaders did not want a candidate to be fielded if the ruling party was fielding a woman, he said.