Biennial elections to the Legislative Council from the Legislative Assembly Constituencies may throw up surprises with Janata Dal(S)-backed Independent candidate B.S. Suresh and Congress's fourth candidate M.R. Seetharam expecting cross-voting from MLAs of all three major political parities.
As many as 12 candidates are in the fray for the elections to 11 seats of the Legislative Council to be held on June 11.
With six candidates of the ruling BJP, three of the Congress and one of the Janata Dal(S) expected to sail through easily, there will be a direct fight between Mr. Seetharam and Mr. Suresh. While Mr. Seetharam, Director of M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore, has declared assets worth Rs. 135 crore, Mr. Suresh, a land developer in Bangalore, is worth over Rs. 110 crore.
Mr. Suresh, who had been loyal to the Congress for several years, has entered the fray as an Independent after being denied ticket by that party. There were 140 aspirants for the four party ticket issued by the Congress.
The numbers
Each candidate has to secure 19 votes to win the elections. In the 225-member Lower House, the BJP candidates have the support of 122 members, including the Speaker, one nominated member and one Independent MLA Varthur Parakash, who is the Minister for Textiles. Thus, B.J. Puttaswamy, Vimala Gowda, D.S. Veeraiah (both members), party State general secretary Raghunath Rao Malkapure, party State vice-president M.B. Bhanuprakash and senior party worker Somanna Bevinamarad are expected to emerge victorious in the elections.
The Congress has 71 members in the Lower House while the Janata Dal (S) has 26. There are six Independents, including the former Minister B. Sriramulu. The BJP has eight surplus votes while the Janata Dal (S) has seven.
The Congress, the main Opposition party, has fielded four candidates — Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Motamma, the former MP from Gulbarga Iqbal Ahmed Saradagi, Karnataka Olympic Association president K. Govindaraju and Mr. Seetharam.
The Congress has enough members to elect three candidates without any hurdles. The party has fielded Mr. Seetharam as its fourth candidate with the hope that he would get elected with second preferential votes and the support of Independents.
The JD(S) has announced that excess votes will go in favour of Mr. Suresh, who belongs to the Kuruba community. Independents and the former Ministers Venkataramanappa and Shivaraj Tangadagi accompanied Mr. Suresh when the latter filed his nomination papers and expressed their support to him.
Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Seetharam and Mr. Suresh admitted that the “votes of Independents are going to play a vital role during the secret ballot”.
Mr. Seetharam, who admitted that he would fall short by three or four votes, said, “I am hopeful of getting the support of the Independents and my friends in the other parties.”
Mr. Suresh said, “I am contacting members of the other parties for votes.”
