Bengaluru: In a setback to the Congress in Karnataka, the party lost the elections to four seats in the Legislative Council, with the opposition JD(S) wresting one segment from the ruling party and its ally BJP retaining three.
The JD(S) wrested the Bengaluru Teachers’ Constituency from Congress, according to officials on Wednesday.
Although the outcome may not have a bearing on the Congress government’s stability, it is being seen as a result of BJP-JD(S) opposition consolidation and some kind of a moral victory for the bloc.
The BJP has registered victory in North-East Teachers’, South-East Graduates’ and West Graduates’ constituencies, defeating the Congress candidates.
While the results of Bengaluru Teachers’ and North-East Teachers’ constituencies were declared on Tuesday, the counting continued overnight in the other two segments, officials said.
All the four MLC seats went to polls on October 23, in which ballot papers were used as per practice.
In the Bengaluru Teachers’ Constituency, JD(S) candidate A P Ranganath, backed by the BJP, defeated sitting Congress MLC Puttanna, who sought re-election, by a margin of 908 votes. Ranganath secured 10,810 votes against Puttanna’s 9,902, officials said.
In the North-East Teachers’ Constituency, BJP’s sitting MLC Shashil G Namoshi defeated Congress candidate Sharanappa Mattur, officials said.
This was his fifth victory from the segment, which covers Kalaburagi, the home turf of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and neighbouring districts of Kalyana Karnataka region, according to party sources.
Namoshi won by a margin of 3,297 votes, by securing 15,596 votes, while Mattur got 12,299 votes.
In the South-East Graduates’ Constituency, BJP candidate K M Suresh has registered victory against Congress nominee Shashi Hulikunte Mutt. He won by a margin of 23,098 votes.
In the West Graduates’ Constituency, sitting BJP MLC S V Sankanur won against Congress candidate Mohan Limbikai by a margin of 9,323 votes, official sources said.
While Sankanur secured 33,711 votes, the Congress candidate got 24,388 votes, they said.
The contest was seen as a test of coordination between the BJP and JD(S), which are alliance partners, as well as the Congress’s support base among teachers and graduates.
The BJP retained the three seats it held earlier, while the JD(S) succeeded in wresting the Bengaluru Teachers’ Constituency from the Congress.
The Bengaluru contest was significant as Puttanna had switched from the JD(S) to the Congress ahead of the previous Assembly elections in 2023. Both Puttanna and Ranganath belong to the Vokkaliga community.
The election was also seen as a test of whether the two opposition alliance partners could transfer their support to each other’s candidates.
The Congress, which had sought to retain its lone seat and make gains in the other constituencies, has failed to perform.
Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee working president B K Hariprasad, ministers and senior party leaders campaigned across the constituencies.
Though the results were not expected to affect the stability of the state government, the strong showing by the Opposition alliance has provided it with political ammunition against the Congress government, which came to power in 2023.
The 75-member Legislative Council currently has 38 Congress members, 24 from the BJP, six from the JD(S), one Independent and Chairman Saleem Ahmed. Five seats earmarked for government nominations are vacant.
The Congress is expected to increase its strength when the vacancies are filled, limiting the impact of the election results on the overall balance of power in the House.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
