Karnataka bypolls: Test of survival for CM on Oct 21

Byelections to 15 Assembly constituencies in the state that became vacant following the disqualification of "rebel" Congress and JD(S) legislators will be held on October 21, the Election Commission announced on Saturday. Their results will be out on October 24.

This leaves Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa with about a month to take his test of survival as the BJP will have to win at least eight of the 15 bypolls to secure a simple majority in the Legislative Assembly.

At present, the BJP has 106, which is the majority in a 208-member Assembly. But in the full 225-member Assembly, the simple majority mark is 113.

Yediyurappa left for New Delhi late Saturday evening amid speculation that he will hold talks with the party’s central leadership on the crucial bypolls.

The sudden announcement of the bypolls took the disqualified legislators by surprise. As it stands now, the "rebels" cannot contest the byelections unless, of course, they get some relief in the Supreme Court where they have challenged their disqualification.

The anxious rebels huddled with Yediyurappa and Advocate-General Prabhuling Navadgi to chalk out the way forward. For now, the fate of the "rebels" hangs in balance till Monday when the Supreme Court is slated to hear their case.

The disqualified MLAs left for New Delhi after meeting Yediyurappa.

"There is no panic. We will contest the bypolls," Congress’ disqualified Yeshwantpur MLA S T Somashekhar told reporters, ruling out the possibility of family members contesting in their stead. "Our case is coming up on Monday. We didn’t know polls would be held. All disqualified MLAs had submitted that elections should not be held until our case is decided. We have sought a stay on our disqualification till 2023. We are confident we will get the stay," he said.

The rebels will also plead with the apex court to stay the bypoll itself.

"The bypolls have only been announced. The notification will happen on Monday, and our lawyers will press for a stay on the same day. I am 100% confident we will get a stay because (the then Speaker) K R Ramesh Kumar’s decision (to disqualify) is illegal and unconstitutional," Congress’ disqualified Chikkaballapur MLA K Sudhakar said.

The bypolls will also be a litmus test for newly-appointed BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel. "The Supreme Court and the Election Commission will decide about the (disqualified) MLAs. Our party is fully prepared to face the polls. I am confident we will win all 15," Kateel said.