The Congress and the BJP are likely to contest all three seats, while the JD(S) is yet to take a call on contesting the by-polls.
The Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru. (Pic for representation only)
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has notified by-polls to three vacant seats in the Karnataka Legislative Council. The polling will be held on 30 June.
As per the notification of ECI, the last date to file nominations is on 20 June. The scrutiny of nominations will be held on 21 June, and the last date to withdraw nominations is on 23 June. The polling and counting will be held on 30 June.
The by-polls were necessitated by the resignation of the then BJP members Baburao Chinchansur, Laxman Savadi, and R Shankar.
After the BJP denied him an Assembly election ticket, R Shankar resigned his MLC post and unsuccessfully contested on a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ticket from Haveri’s Ranebennur seat.
Baburao Chinchansur pledged allegiance to the Congress and lost from Yadgir’s Gurmitkal Assembly seat.
Savadi was the only former MLC who won — on a Congress ticket from the Athani Assembly seat.
The Congress won 135 seats, the BJP won 66, and JD(S) 19 seats in last month’s Assembly elections.
The Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha and the Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha won one seat each, while Independents won two.
As the Congress gained a complete majority by winning 135 of the 224 seats in the Karnataka Assembly elections, it is expected to contest for all the three vacant seats in the Legislative Council by-elections.
Minister for Minor Irrigation and Science and Technology NS Boseraju is expected to be one of the three candidates contesting the by-elections.
“The party has to field me as its candidate for one of the three vacant seats as I am neither an MLA nor an MLC, but I am a cabinet minister. The party high command will decide the other two candidates,” Boseraju told South First.
The other two probable candidates are former chief minister Jagadish Shettar and former minister Umashree, claimed sources in the party.
Refuting the reports that AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala spoke to him asking to contest the by-polls, Shettar told South First: “I cannot disclose anything to the media. I want to make it clear that whichever post the party high command offers I am ready to accept it.”
Meanwhile, Umashree told South First: “I have approached the party high command to bless me with a ticket to contest the Legislative Council by-polls. The party has not yet made any decision on this. I will abide by the decision of the high command.”
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s son and former MLA Yathindra Siddaramaiah’s name is on the probables’ list.
Senior Congress leader and MLC BK Hariprasad told South First: “The party will field minister Boseraju from one seat. Around 20 people have approached the high command seeking tickets for the remaining two seats. The party has not yet finalised the candidates. We will win all three seats.”
Despite not having enough numbers, the BJP is likely to contest for all three seats in the Legislative Council by-polls, claimed the party leaders.
At present among the 75 members of the Legislative Council, 26 are from the Congress, 35 from the BJP, eight the JD(S), and one independent. Five seats are vacant.
BJP MLC Ravikumar told South First: “The party will contest all three seats. We have not yet finalised the candidates. The party high command will finalise the candidates.”
He added: “We will not have an alliance with the JD(S). The party has not even held talks with the regional party on this matter.”
The JD(S) is unlikely to contest even a single seat as the party doesn’t have enough numbers, claimed its leaders.
There are also talks that the JD(S) is likely to make an alliance with the BJP in the by-polls.
JD(S) leader and former minister Bandeppa Kashempur told South First: “The party has not held any talks on contesting the legislative council by-polls as we don’t have enough numbers in the House.”
He added: “If the party high command makes an alliance with the BJP, the party might have chances to win at least one seat. It is too early to comment. The party will announce its decision at the earliest.”
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