Nirmala Sitharaman and Jairam Ramesh are seeking re-election from the state.
Bangalore:
Six candidates are in the fray for the Rajya Sabha elections to be held on June 10 for four seats in Karnataka, leading to a fierce contest for the fourth seat.
All three political parties in the state – BJP, Congress and JD(S) – have fielded candidates for the seat, despite not having enough votes to win the fourth seat from the state assembly, forcing an election. .
Six candidates are in the fray for the Rajya Sabha elections from the state – Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, actor-politician Jaggesh and outgoing BJP MLC Lahar Singh Siroya, former Union minister Jairam Ramesh and state general secretary Mansoor Ali Khan. Congress, and former JD(S) MP D Kupendra Reddy.
Among the candidates, Ms Sitharaman and Jairam Ramesh are seeking re-election from the state.
Despite the JD(S) seeking support to ensure Reddy’s election to the Upper House of Parliament, the Congress did not withdraw its second candidate Khan from the fray on Friday, the last day for withdrawal of nominations, and gave all its candidates a single nomination. Whip issued. The MLAs are asking them to vote for the party’s candidates.
The JD(S) had sought the support of the Congress by calling for secularism and keeping communal forces at bay. JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda is also said to have discussed with Congress President Sonia Gandhi in this regard.
The Congress, in turn, asked the JD(S) to support its candidate Khan and remind the regional party that it supported the election of its mentor and former PM Deve Gowda to the Rajya Sabha last time.
The announcement of Khan’s name as the party’s second candidate was a surprise move by the Congress, as it has enough votes to win just one seat.
Following the move, the ruling BJP also announced Siroya’s candidature even though it had enough numbers to comfortably win only two seats.
Elections to the four Rajya Sabha seats are necessary as the term of members of the BJP’s Nirmala Sitharaman and KC Ramamurthy and Jairam Ramesh are set to end on June 30. Oscar Fernandes, the fourth member of Congress, passed away last year.
A candidate needs the support of 45 MLAs to win, and depending on their strength in the assembly, the BJP may win two and the Congress one.
After electing two Rajya Sabha candidates (Sitaraman and Jaggesh) on their own in the assembly, the BJP will be left with an additional 32 MLAs’ votes.
After electing Jairam Ramesh, Congress will be left with 24 MLAs votes, while JD(S) has only 32 MLAs, which is not enough to win a single seat.
Counting of votes will take place on June 10 at 5 pm, which is after polling.
Official sources said, since there are three candidates for the fourth seat and none of them has sufficient number of votes to win, a situation may arise where the second and third preferential votes may have to be counted, if required. .
There is a discussion in the political circles that if the preferential votes are counted, the BJP may benefit.
“Why should we take back our candidate (Khan)? We have fielded him because we want to win,” Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah said in response to a question. Alluding to the possibility of cross-voting, he said, “We expect the legislators to vote discreetly. I cannot tell you now who will vote for us.”
While JD(S) leader HD Revanna said that what happens on polling day, one needs to wait and see, and his party hopes that the Congress will keep its words of supporting secular forces.
“Ask Congress if they have any internal understanding with BJP to help the saffron party?” They said.
However, BJP leaders have expressed confidence of winning three out of the four seats.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)