BJP sweeps Legislative Council polls in Karnataka

Continuing its winning spree in Karnataka, the BJP bagged four out of the five Legislative Council seats that went to polls.

While the JD (S) managed to win one seat, the principal opposition party Congress drew a blank.

The outcome of the elections to Legislative Council from two teachers’ constituencies and two graduates’ constituencies, besides one local authorities’ constituency came as a major setback to the Congress party, which is still recovering from the rout during the assembly elections.

Adding to the Congress party’s woes, former Minister H K Patil, who was a member of the Legislative Council for the last 24 years, lost the West Graduates’ constituency seat to BJP’s Mohan Limbikai, a political greenhorn.

Patil polled 21,327 votes against Limbikai’s 25,737 in the elections to the Legislative Council. Incidentally, Patil had lost the assembly elections from Gadag in north Karnataka last month.

BJP also managed to wrest the Dakshina Kannada local authorities’ seat from the Congress. BJP’s Kota Srinivas Poojary defeated his Congress rival Nithyananda Mundgodi by a margin of 293 votes. Poojary secured 3,110 against Mundodi’s 2,817 votes.

The Bangalore Central Teachers’ constituency and North East Teachers’ constituency were also bagged by the BJP, whose candidates Shivayogi Swamy and Shashil G Namoshi respectively defeated their Congress rivals in the polls.

The JD (S), however, held onto it own by retaining the Bangalore Teacher’s constituency with its candidate Puttanna romping home to victory by a margin of 2,472 votes over his nearest BJP rival M Neelaiah.
However, Congress continues to remain the single largest party in the Legislative Council of Karnataka despite the recent electoral reverses. The 75-member house has 29 Congress members against 26 belonging to BJP and 16 to the JD (S). Independents and JD (U) constitute the rest.