Congress nominates four MLCs, secures simple majority in Karnataka Legislative Council

Bengaluru: The four vacant posts in the Karnataka Legislative Council were officially filled on Sunday, giving the Congress simple majority in the Upper House. 

A gazette notification announced that Aarathi Krishna, Ramesh Babu,
F H Jakkappanavar and Shivakumar K were nominated by the Congress to the Legislative Council.

The four seats filled by the new members were previously held by C P Yogeshwar (who was a BJP member when he was nominated, but subsequently won the Channapatna Assembly seat on a Congress ticket), U B Venkatesh, Prakash Rathod and K A Thippeswamy. 

The majority will be crucial for the ruling Congress to ensure the passage of bills. During the recently concluded monsoon session of the Legislature, the Congress faced a setback, when the opposition BJP and JD(S) voted against the Karnataka Souharda Sahakari (Amendment) Bill, 2025, and defeated the bill. 

Earlier, there had been speculations that Aarathi and Babu would be joined by senior journalist Dinesh Amin Mattu and Dalit leader D G Sagar. However, Mattu and Sagar were replaced with Jakkappanavar and Shivakumar.