Karnataka: EC notifies Rajya Sabha, Council polls; voting on June 18

Bengaluru: The Election Commission of India on Monday notified biennial elections to four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka and seven seats of the Legislative Council, setting off intense political activity in the ruling Congress and BJP over ticket allocation. Polling and counting for both elections will be held on June 18.

The Rajya Sabha elections were necessitated as the terms of four members - former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and BJP members Iranna Kadadi and K Narayana end on June 25.

With 135 members (reduced from 137 following the death of D Sudhakar and disqualification of Vinay Kulkarni) in the currently 222-member Assembly, the ruling Congress is comfortably placed to win three of the four Rajya Sabha seats, while BJP is expected to pick one.

The Congress’ candidate selection remains undecided amid the ongoing process for the formation of a new government. Party sources said Mallikarjun Kharge (also the AICC president) is likely to retain his seat.

Of the remaining two Rajya Sabha seats, one could go to an OBC leader. The high command is weighing in on Pawan Khera, Supriya Shrinate, Y S Sharmila and B V Srinivas for the third seat.

State leaders who are in the race include B K Hariprasad, D K Suresh, Nagaraj Yadav, V S Ugrappa, Anjali Nimbalkar and Basavaraju A P.

In the BJP, former MP Sumalatha Ambareesh, Nirmal Kumar Surana, Pramod Madhwaraj and N Mahesh are frontrunners for the lone seat. The central leadership is also exploring the possibility of nominating Deve Gowda from a BJP-ruled state like Maharashtra or Gujarat, though the JD(S) patriarch is understood to be keen on re-entering the Upper House from Karnataka itself.

The Congress is hoping to strengthen its tally in the 75-member Legislative Council, where it currently has 37 members, BJP 29 and JD(S) 7, besides one Independent and the chairman.

The BJP is considering caste and gender representation, while finalising its nominees. It has shortlisted state mahila morcha president Manjula, Malavika Avinash, Geetha Vivekananda, Shruthi, Raghu Kautilya, Lingaraj Patil and Sharanu Tallikere.

The last date for filing nominations is June 8, while scrutiny of nomination papers will be conducted on June 9. Candidates can withdraw their candidature until June 11. Voting will be held from 9 am to 4 pm on June 18, and the counting of votes will commence at 5 pm on the same day. With a total strength of 75 members in the Council, the Congress is the single largest party with 37 members, followed by the BJP with 29 members. The JD(S) has seven members, while there is one Independent member. The Chairman occupies the remaining seat.