In an attempt to avoid allegations of nepotism and dynastic politics ahead of next year's state elections, the BJP central leadership has ignored its state unit's recommendations to field former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa's son in the upcoming Karnataka legislative council, or Vidhan Parishad, elections.
Hours before the deadline for filing nominations ends on Tuesday, the BJP released its list of candidates for the June 3 biennial election to seven seats of the Karnataka Legislative Council. Sources say the former Chief Minister wanted a ticket for his son BY Vijayendra, who is currently vice president of the party in the state. The party's state unit had also recommended his name as one of the probable candidates.
Quoting party sources, news agency PTI reported that the leadership decided against giving a ticket to Mr Vijayendra as it wants to field him as a candidate during the 2023 assembly elections. The party is likely to give him a greater role in the party ahead of the polls as a placatory move, sources said.
BS Yediyurappa is an MLA from the Shikaripura assembly seat, while his elder son BY Raghavendra is the Shivamogga MP.
The BJP has announced four candidates for the Member of Legislative Council elections, all of who are likely to win.
Former Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka Laxman Savadi, secretary of the BJP state unit Hemalatha Nayak, president of BJP SC Morcha Chalavadi Narayaswamy, and S Keshavaprasad have been named the candidates for the legislative assembly polls.
Senior leader Basavaraj Horatti, who recently jumped ship from Janata Dal (Secular) to BJP, will be the party's candidate for the Karnataka West Teacher's constituency election, which is set to take place on June 13. Considered to be the senior-most MLC, 76-year-old Mr Horatti has been elected to the state's upper house for seven successive terms.
The BJP had already announced the candidates for the remaining three seats: Arun Shahpur (North West Teachers' constituency), Hanumant Rudrappa Nirani (North West Graduates' constituency), and former MLC M V Ravishankar (South Graduates' Constituency).
The JD(S) too announced former MLC TA Saravana as its candidate.
The Congress has announced M Nagaraju Yadav and K Abdul Jabbar as its candidates.
The election is necessitated as the term of office of seven members expires on June 14.
The seats will be falling vacant due to the retirement of MLCs -- Laxman Savadi and Lahar Singh Siroya of BJP; Ramappa Timmapur, Allum Veerabhadrappa, and Veena Achaiah S of Congress; and HM Ramesha Gowda and Narayana Swamy KV of JD(S).
According to official sources, in this election, each MLC candidate will require a minimum of 29 votes to win, and on the basis of the minimum votes required and tallying it with the strength of each party in the Legislative Assembly, the BJP is expected to win four seats, Congress two, and JD(S) one.
The Legislative Council is similar to the Rajya Sabha, with almost one-third of the members retiring every two years. Council members have a tenure of six years. Not every state has two separate assemblies. Currently, only six states (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh) have a State Legislative Council.
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