Bengaluru, May 13 (DHNS): The Election Commission announced the schedule of polling to fill six imminent vacancies in the Legislative Council of Karnataka, even as the state went to polls to elect the new Legislative Assembly on Saturday.

The polling will be held on June 8 to elect the members of the state Legislative Council from the constituencies of Karnataka South East Teachers, Karnataka South Teachers, Karnataka South West Teachers, Karnataka South West Graduates, Bangalore Graduates and Karnataka North East Graduates. The votes will be counted on June 12, the EC stated on Saturday.

The vacancies will be created on June 21, when the current tenures of Ramesh Babu, Marithibbe Gowda, Ganesh Karnik, D H Shankara Murthy, Ramachandra Gowda and Amarnath Patil as the members of the Legislative Council of Karnataka will end.

The polling to fill four vacancies in Maharashtra Legislative Council will also be held on June 8 and the votes polled will be counted on June 12.

The notification for the biennial elections to fill vacancies in the legislative councils of Karnataka and Maharashtra will be issued on May 15 and the last date for filing nominations will be May 22. The scrutiny of the nomination papers will be done on May 23 and the last date for withdrawal of nomination will be May 25, the EC stated.

The BJP has named former MP Ayanur Manjunath as the candidate for South-West Graduates Constituency and sitting MLC Capt Ganesh Karnik for the South-West Teachers Constituency.

B Niranjan Murthy has been chosen as the candidate from the South Teachers' Constituency while K B Shrinivas has been named as the candidate from North-East Graduates' Constituency.

Haalanur S Lepakshi has been named as the candidate from South-East Teachers' Constituency and A Deve Gowda from Bangalore Graduates' Constituency.