Karnataka MLC polls: All seven candidates set to be elected unopposed

With seven candidates in the fray for as many berths, the legislative council elections in Karnataka is all set to be a unanimous affair.

Karnataka Legislative Assembly Secretary M K Vishalakshi, who is the returning officer on Friday, declared all seven candidates fielded by three main political parties in the state for June 29 polls to be elected by the MLAs as "validly nominated."

They include- BJP's MTB Nagaraj, R Shankar, Sunil Vallyapure and Pratap Simha Nayak, Congress' B K Hariprasad and Naseer Ahmed, and JD(S)' Govinda Raju.

The papers filed by P C Krishnegowda as an independent and Mandikkal Nagaraja- claiming to be associated with BJP, were rejected during the scrutiny as they did not have any proposers.

"With only seven candidates in the fray for as many seats, the election is set to be unopposed and polling will not be required.

It will be official on the last date for withdrawal of nominations," official sources said.

The last date for withdrawal of candidature is June 22.

The election is necessitated as the term of seven MLCs- Naseer Ahmed, Jayamma, M C Venugopal, N S Bose Raju, H M Revanna (all Congress), T A Sharavana (JD(S)) and independent D U Mallikarjuna- will end June 30.

Based on their strength in the Assembly, while BJP is in a position to win four out of seven seats, Congress could win two and JD(S) one.

Twenty-eight valid votes of MLAs are required for each candidate to win.

However, with no party fielding additional candidates against each other and deciding to contest only on the number of seats they can win based on their strength in the assembly, the polls to the upper house will be a unanimous affair, without necessitating the voting process.

BJP's candidates include two turncoats- MTB Nagaraj and R Shankar, who helped the party come to power.

Among the other two candidates- Sunil Vallyapure was rewarded for abiding by the party decision and giving up his Chincholi assembly seat to a new candidate during polls earlier, while Pratap Simha Nayak is a long time party worker and was said to be backed by state party chief Nalin Kumar Kateel.

Congress candidates are- senior party leader B K Hariprasad and incumbent Naseer Ahmed.

Hariprasad's name was announced by the party, even as his tenure in Rajya Sabha is to end on June 25.Naseer Ahmed, who is retiring as MLC on June 30, is seeking another term.

In a surprise move, the JD(S) has fielded Govinda Raju from Koral as the party candidate, with an aim to organise and strengthen the party in Kolar and Chikkaballapura region.

Incumbent MLC T A Sharavana and outgoing Rajya Sabha member Kupendra Reddy were seen as the prime aspirants for the ticket.