The Rajya Sabha election scene in Karnataka has hotted up with the BJP-Janata Dal (Secular) combine fielding its second candidate, even though the alliance has the strength to win only one out of the four seats.
The biennial election to fill four vacancies from Karnataka in the Rajya Sabha, by the elected Members of the Legislative Assembly, is scheduled for February 27.
The ruling Congress, whose strength is 135 in the 224-member Assembly, along with the support of Darshan Puttanaiah from Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha, and two Independents is expected to retain the three seats.
The BJP and JDS with 66 and 19 members, respectively, are in a position to together win one seat.
According to official sources, each candidate has to get 45 votes to win, if there are only four candidates in the fray, but in the case of more candidates, then preference votes kick in.
The Congress has fielded Ajay Maken, Syed Naseer Hussain and GC Chandrasekhar as party candidates, and all of them filed their nominations on Thursday, accompanied by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and AICC General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala.
Former MLC Narayansa Bandage, who is the BJP candidate, also filed his nomination accompanied by state BJP President BY Vijayendra and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly R Ashoka among others. They were joined by JD(S) president and former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy.
In a surprise move, JDS leader and former Rajya Sabha Member D Kupendra Reddy too filed a nomination today, necessitating a contest. He was accompanied by Mr Kumaraswamy, mr Vijayendra and Mr Ashoka.
The election has been necessitated to fill four Rajya Sabha seats from the state that are becoming vacant due to the retirement of Union Minister Rajeev Chandrashekar from BJP, and Congress' Chandrashekar, L Hanumanthaiah and Mr Hussein, on April 2, after the expiry of their six-year term.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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