Karnataka MLC Polls: Inside Congress’ Seat Math And Closed-Door Strategy
Karnataka MLC Polls: Inside Congress’ Seat Math And Closed-Door Strategy Reported By, Last Updated: June 18, 2026, 08:13 IST Congress is confident of winning all
Karnataka MLC Polls: Inside Congress’ Seat Math And Closed-Door Strategy Reported By, Last Updated: June 18, 2026, 08:13 IST Congress is confident of winning all five seats, while the JD(S) has entered the contest despite lacking the numbers. Rapid Read On Wednesday, on the eve of the Legislative Council elections, the Congress spent the entire day conducting a mock voting session for all its members. The ruling Congress party is supremely confident of winning the fifth seat as well, without expecting any cross-voting from the Opposition benches in Thursday’s election to the Legislative Council for seven seats in Karnataka. The election could well have been uncontested, with the Congress fielding five candidates — KPCC chief B K Hariprasad, Tippannappa Kamaknoor, P V Mohan, Shivanna Malavalli (B S Shivanna) and Vinay Karthik Prakash — and the main Opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), fielding two candidates, Lingaraj Patil and Raghu Kautilya. However, the Janata Dal (Secular), or JD(S), fielded its candidate, Govindraju, even though it has just 18 members in the Legislative Assembly. The current strength of the 224-member Lower House has been reduced to 222 due to the death of one Congress member, D Sudhakar, and the disqualification of another Congress member, Vinay Kulkarni, following his conviction in a murder case.
Due to the death of one member and the disqualification of another, the Congress’ strength has been reduced from 136 to 134. However, it has the support of three Independent candidates — Latha Mallikarjun, K H Puttaswamy Gowda and Darshan Puttannaiah — who are expected to support the Congress, along with two rebel and now-expelled BJP members, S T Somashekhar and Shivaram Hebbar. In short, each Congress candidate is required to secure 27.75 votes to win the election. The BJP, which has 63 members, has six surplus votes that it can pass on to the JD(S) candidate. However, given the strength of the JD(S) in the House, this would be inadequate for its candidate to reach the magic figure of 28, or 27.75 as per the calculation for this election. “The effort of the JD(S)’ Kumaraswamy is to portray the party as united. We are aware that the JD(S)’ decision to field a candidate is only aimed at keeping its flock together, when everyone knows what the result will be. We are not expecting any cross-voting from the other side either," a senior leader told CNN-News18 on condition of anonymity.
On Wednesday, on the eve of the Legislative Council elections, despite believing that they would sail through comfortably, the Congress spent the entire day conducting a mock voting session for all its members, explaining how to vote and how to ensure that not even a single vote was invalidated. This included the BJP rebels, Hebbar and Somashekhar, participating in the mock ballot voting process. All Congress leaders and supporting MLAs have been asked to ensure that all five Congress candidates win comfortably, remain united and follow the party’s instructions. Later in the evening, party members attended an entertainment programme, followed by an elaborate dinner, sources confirmed. The JD(S), with 18 members and the support of six surplus BJP votes that will be left after it ensures the victory of its two candidates, is also hopeful of securing the support of expelled BJP leader Basanagouda Patil Yatnal. This would take its tally to 25. It is here that the decision of senior JD(S) leader and MLA G T Deve Gowda on how to vote becomes crucial. He has of late distanced himself from the JD(S) leadership due to differences.
The BriefWire