The Congress has decided to field Nazeer Ahmed in the election to the post of the Chairman of the Legislative Council.
While members interested to contest can file their nominations on Monday, the election has been scheduled for Tuesday by Governor Vajubhai R. Vala.
KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar on Sunday told reporters that the party had decided to ask Mr. Ahmed to file his nomination papers.
The election to the post of the Chairman has been necessitated after K. Prathapchandra Shetty tendered his resignation following the no-confidence motion moved against him by the BJP and the Janata Dal (S). In the current political alignment, Mr. Ahmed is unlikely to win the election as the BJP and the JD(S) together have the numbers in the 75-member House to get their nominee elected. While the BJP has 31 members , the JD(S) has 13 members . As per an agreement reached between the two parties, the senior-most member in the Council and JD(S) leader Basavaraj Horatti will be fielded.
Despite not having the numbers, the Congress had fielded senior member K.C. Kondaiah in the election to the post of the Deputy Chairman recently. With the JD(S) support, BJP member M.K. Pranesh comfortably won the election.