Keen contest to be witnessed Council elections

Bangalore, May 28 : A keen contest is on the cards between the fourth candidates of the Congress and its former ally Janata Dal (Secular) in the biennial elections to the Karnataka Legislative Council on June one.

Four candidates each from the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party and JD(S) were in the fray for the eleven vacancies in the Council, to be filled by the 225-member Legislative Assembly.

It would be a smooth sail for the four nominees of the BJP, with a strength of 79 members, provided there was no cross voting in the secret ballot. The Congress, which had 66 MLAs, could make the elections a cakewalk for three of its candidates. After alloting 19 votes each to ensure the victory of its first three preferred candidates, the Congress would have nine surplus votes in its kitty.

The JD(S) had 59 members in the Assembly, including the Speaker.

With the fielding of the fourth candidate, the Congress and JD(S) were sweating it out to woo independents and Legislators of small parties. The Congress was banking on the support of seven Legislators who have identified themselves with former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who had floated a new political outfit -- All India Progressive Janata Dal (AIPJD).

Former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader N Dharam Singh told UNI that his party had fielded its fourth candidate V R Sudarshan, also the Chairman of the Council, only after ensuring that they had the required numbers. With its surplus nine votes and assured votes from AIPJD (seven), CPI(M), Republican Party and Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha (one each), the Congress should win comfortably, he added.
The JD(S) leaders too sounded equally confident of victory of their fourth candidate, Amarnath Shetty, a former Minister. However, the JD(S), which faced revolt from the Siddaramaiah faction despite technically being JD(S) members in the House, was itself short of about six votes for its third candidate to win. Besides making all out efforts to garner the votes of independents and small parties, it was bringing pressure on the AIPJD Legislators and had petitioned the Karnataka Speaker, seeking their disqualification from the Assembly for allegedly working against the interests of the party on which they got elected.

The BJP had named Messrs D S Veeraiah, Thontadarya, Vimala Gowda and Janardhana Reddy, while its new found ally JD(S) had pitted Messrs Chikkamaadu, Abdul Ajeem and H C Neeravari as its first three preferred candidates and Mr Amarnath Shetty as the fourth candidate.

The Congress had fielded Messrs K C Kondaiah, C Motamma and Arshad Ali as its first three preferred nominees and Mr Sudarshan as the fourth candidate.

With an additional candidate in the fray, the election had thrown up an interesting and fierce tussle between the two allies-turned- bitter political foes in State politics.

UNI