Congress, JD(S) to gain in Council polls

M C Venugopal, Nazeer Ahmed (both Congress) and H M Ramesh Gowda (JD-S), who on Monday filed their nomination papers for the byelections to three vacant seats in the Legislative Council, are likely to be declared elected unopposed.

Monday was the last date for filing nominations, and the three will be declared elected unopposed if their papers are found to be in order. Scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on Tuesday. The byelections are scheduled for October 4.

The BJP decided not to field any candidates as the party lacked the required numbers. Members of the Legislative Assembly form the electoral college for the elections. A candidate requires a minimum of 112 votes to win. There are two independents in the fray — T D R Harishchandra Gowda and Venkatesh Mahaswami. However, their candidatures are likely to be rejected as their nomination papers do not have any proposers.

Venugopal and Ahmed submitted their nomination papers to returning officer M S Kumaraswamy at Vidhana Soudha and were accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, KPCC working president Eshwar Khandre among others.

Venugopal and Ahmed had unsuccessfully contested in the Assembly elections from Jayanagar and Kolar constituencies respectively in 2013. Gowda is the president of the JD(S) Bengaluru Youth wing and is said to be close to the H D Deve Gowda family.

The vacancies arose after Parameshwara and BJP leaders K S Eshwarappa and V Somanna, all of whom were elected to the Assembly in May, vacated their Council seats.