RS polls: Voting underway in Karnataka, tight contest for 4th seat

June 10, 2022 11:09

K'taka CM Basavaraj Bommai casts his vote

Voting is underway in the Rajya Sabha polls for four seats from Karnataka on Friday, as suspense continues over the outcome of the fourth seat, for which all three political parties are contenders, despite none of them having adequate number of votes to win it.

Members of Legislative Assembly are voters in this election.

The voting that began at 9 AM will go on till 4 PM and counting of votes will take place at 5 PM, after the polling hours.

Six candidates are in the fray in the Rajya Sabha elections from the state, necessitating a contest for the fourth seat.

Despite not having the adequate number of votes to win the fourth seat from the state assembly, all the three political parties -- the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular -- have fielded candidates for the seat, forcing an election.

The six candidates in the fray for the Rajya Sabha polls from the state are -- Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, actor-politician Jaggesh and outgoing MLC Lehar Singh Siroya from the BJP, former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh and state general secretary Mansoor Ali Khan from the Congress, and former MP D Kupendra Reddy from the JD(S).

Sitharaman and Ramesh are seeking re-election to the Upper House of Parliament for a consecutive term from the state.

A candidate needs the support of 45 MLAs to win and based on their strength in the Legislative assembly, the BJP can win two seats and the Congress one.

After getting two Rajya Sabha candidates (Sitharaman and Jaggesh) elected on its own strength in the assembly, the BJP will be left with an additional 32 MLA votes.

The Congress will be left with 25 MLA votes after electing Jairam Ramesh, while the JD-S has only 32 MLAs, which is not sufficient to win a seat.

The fight for the fourth seat will see a direct contest between Siroya (BJP), Khan (Congress) and Reddy (JDS).

While Siroya and Reddy are short of votes from 13 MLAs each, Khan will need 20.

As this election has an open ballot system, every MLA (voter) will have to show his ballot paper to their designated party agents after choosing their preferences. -- PTI

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