Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru (DC)

Bengaluru, Jun 13: The BJP won three of the six seats in the biennial Karnataka Legislative Council elections, the counting for which went late into the night on Tuesday June 12. The JD(S) won 2 seats while the Congress registered a win in only one constituency.

The 30-year dominance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was ended by the Congress after the latter registered its first victory in the northeast graduates' constituency in the Karnataka Legislative Council elections. Congress candidate Chandrashekhar B Patil beat his nearest rival K B Srinivas of BJP by a slender margin of 321 votes.

In the Bengaluru graduates' constituency BJP's Devegowda won by 3,864 votes.

In a blow for the BJP in the coastal region, the party's MLC candidate Capt Ganesh Karnik lost the election to JD(S) candidate S L Boje Gowda in the south-west teachers' constituency.

In south teachers' constituency JD(S) candidate Marthibbegowda defeated his nearest rival, M Laxman of the Congress.

BJP's V A Narayanaswamy from southwest teachers constituency won by over 2,000 votes against his nearest rival, Ramesh Babu of JD(S) and in south-west graduates constituency Ayanur Manjunath of the BJP won against JD(S) candidate Arun Kumar.

The polling for six legislative council seats - three each of teachers and graduates, was held on June 8. Eight candidates - Arun Kumar of JD(S), Ayanur Manjunath of BJP, S P Dinesh of Congress, G C Patel of Sarva Janata Party, and independents Zafarulla Sattar Khan, G M Jayakumar, B R Prabhulinga and B K Manjunath were in the fray in the graduates' constituency. Twelve candidates - Ganesh Karnik of BJP, S L Boje Gowda of JD(S), K K Manjunath Kumar of Congress, and independents Arun Hosakoppa, Aloysius D’Souza, K B Chandroji Rao, D K Tulasappa, Ampar Nityanand Shetty, B R Prabhulinga, K C Basavarajappa, M Ramesh and K P Rajendra Kumar contested in the teachers’ constituency.

The six legislative council seats are Karnataka southeast teachers’ constituency, Karnataka south teachers’ constituency, Karnataka southwest teachers’ constituency, Karnataka southwest graduates’ constituency, Bengaluru graduates’ constituency and Karnataka northeast graduates' constituency.

Voting was preferential where the voter mentioned preference of candidates. There were 7,140 voters in the teachers’ constituencies and 15,494 voters in the graduates’ constituencies from Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga and Davangere districts.