Rajya Sabha elections get underway in Karnataka
The Hindu
The elections are taking place as four members – Syed Naseer Hussein, G.C. Chandrashekar and L. Hanumanthaiah (Congress), and Rajeev Chandrashekar (BJP) are retiring in April after completion of their term.
Amidst fears of cross-voting, elections to the four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka got underway in Bengaluru on February 27. By noon, more than 112 legislators, including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, had cast their votes. The result of the election will be announced by evening.
Five candidates Narayanasa K. Bhandage (BJP), G.C. Chandrashekar, Ajay Maken and Syed Naseer Hussein (Congress), and Kupendra Reddy (Janata Dal-Secular) are in the fray for the four seats.
The elections are taking place as four members – Syed Naseer Hussein, G.C. Chandrashekar and L. Hanumanthaiah (Congress), and Rajeev Chandrashekar (BJP) are retiring in April after completion of their term.
In the current strength of 223 members (after the death of Surpur MLA Raja Venkatappa Naik) in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, Congress has 134 members, while BJP has 66 and JD(S) has 19 members. Latha Mallikarjun (Harappanahalli) and K.H. Puttaswamy Gowda (Gauribidanur) are independents along with Darshan Puttannaiah (Melukote) of Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha, and G. Janardhan Reddy (Gangawati) of Karnataka Rajya Pragathi Paksha.
While 45 votes are required for a candidate to register a victory, Congress and BJP are comfortably placed to win three seats and one seat, respectively.
Meanwhile, despite a whip for BJP legislators to vote for the BJP candidate, its member representing Yeshwantpur Assembly constituency S.T. Somashekar is speculated to have cross-voted in favour of the Congress candidate after speaking about ‘conscience vote’.
He was among those legislators whose moves were keenly watched. Before casting his votes, he had said that so far no candidate had approached him for votes, and that he would vote for the candidate who would fund development works in Yeshwantpur Assembly constituency.
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