The newly-formed alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular) suffered a setback as one BJP legislator cross-voted in favour of the Congress candidate while another MLA abstained from voting in the Rajya Sabha elections held on Tuesday. The development could deal a blow to JD(S) candidate and real estate businessman D Kupendra Reddy’s hopes of securing a berth in the Upper House.
According to The Indian Express, while former minister ST Somashekar cross-voted in the elections, another former minister Shivaram Hebbar abstained. There were apprehensions earlier that Hebbar could vote against the BJP candidate. The party also pasted a copy of the party whip asking him to vote for the BJP-JDS candidate outside his room in the state Assembly.
Notably, a party whip does not apply in Rajya Sabha elections where candidates are free to vote for a candidate of their choice.
Speaking to the media ahead of voting, ST Somashekar said that he would cast his vote as per his “conscience” and for a candidate who would release funds for his Yeshwanthapura constituency. “I will cast the first-preference vote for the candidate who promises funds for the constituency,” he said. The BJP, meanwhile, is contemplating action against the leader.
Both Somashekar and Hebbar joined the BJP from Congress in 2019 after the Congress-JD(S) government fell following a rebellion by some of their legislators. There has been a buzz around Somashekar and Hebbar’s return to the Congress for a year now.
A total of 222 of the 223 votes were cast in the polls for the four Rajya Sabha seats from the state. The five candidates for these seats include former Union minister Ajay Maken, and Rajya Sabha MPs Syed Nasir Hussain and GC Chandrashekar of the Congress, former MLC Narayansa Bhandage of the BJP and Kupendra Reddy of the JD(S).
Each candidate requires 45 first-preference votes to win. With 134 MLAs, and the support of Independent legislators and others, the Congress has the numbers required for the victory of all three of its candidates. The BJP, on the other hand, has the numbers to send Bhandage to the Rajya Sabha. The JD(S), however, is banking on BJP’s spare votes, its own 19 MLAs, and five votes from the Congress ranks.