After winning 3 seats, BJP-JDS alliance to remain majority in Karnataka Legislative Council

The BJP-JD(S) alliance in Karnataka is all set to remain a majority in the Karnataka Legislative Council after winning three of the six council seats that went to polls on June 3. The ruling Congress will have to wait till the 2026 council polls to ensure a slim majority of 38 seats in the upper house of the state legislature. Congress had to win all six seats to secure a majority in the council. By winning three seats, it has succeeded in increasing its tally to 35. While results of two constituencies were announced on Thursday, others were announced on Friday due to the prolonged counting process involving preferential votes. For the election, the BJP had fielded candidates in four constituencies, leaving two to JD(S). In a morale booster for the regional party, both JD(S) candidates S L Bhojegowda and K Vivekananda, were declared winners on Thursday from Karnataka South West Teachers’ and Karnataka South Teachers’ constituency, respectively. In an upset, Vivekananda defeated four-time MLC from the segment Marithibbegowda, who was formerly with the JD(S) but resigned from the party to contest on a Congress ticket. The three Congress candidates who won are D T Srinivas (Karnataka South East Teachers’), Ramoji Gowda (Bangalore Graduates’) and Chandrashekar Patil (North East Graduates’). At the South West Graduates’ constituency, BJP’s Dhanajay Sarji was able to secure a win and BJP rebel K Raghupati Bhat, contesting as an independent, came second. Congress candidate and former MLC Ayanur Manjunath was pushed to the third position. The tally of 35 seats included seven candidates who had filed nomination papers for an election scheduled June 13, where members of Legislative Assembly elect MLCs. The seven included CM Siddaramaiah’s son Yathindra Siddramaiah, Science and Technology minister N S Boseraju and political secretary to CM K Govindaraj, who were elected unopposed. Apart from them three BJP and one JD(S) nominee were also elected. The number of candidates for each party for the said election is based on the strength of each party in the Legislative Assembly. With the results, the BJP-JD(S) alliance will now enjoy a slender majority of 38 seats in the 75-member Legislative Council. Of the 38, BJP has 30 and JD(S) eight MLCs. The two remaining seats in the Council includes Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti – a BJP MLC – and independent MLC Lakhan Jarkiholi.