Two of four seats record high turnouts in Karnataka MLC polls

Basavaraj Horatti, the former chairperson of the Karnataka legislative council, is contesting on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket this time after serving seven terms as the Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S) legislator. He left the JD(S) last month and joined the BJP.

At least two out of the four Karnataka legislative council constituencies that went to the polls on Monday saw a high turnout with the west teachers’ constituency recording over 84% voting, according to a statement by the Chief Electoral Officer.

At least two out of the four Karnataka legislative council constituencies that went to the polls on Monday saw a high turnout with the west teachers’ constituency recording over 84% voting, according to a statement by the Chief Electoral Officer. (HT Photo)

Basavaraj Horatti, the former chairperson of the Karnataka legislative council, is contesting on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket this time around after serving seven terms as the Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S) legislator. He left the JD(S) last month and joined the BJP.

The BJP and Congress have fielded one candidate each from all four constituencies while the JD(S) has fielded its hopefuls in three.

Pitted against Basavaraj Gurikar of the Congress and Shrishail Gaddainni of the JD(S), Horatti is seeking a record eighth term from the west teachers’ constituency.

There are four constituencies that headed to the polls on Monday with a total of 284,922 voters, data from the Chief Election Officer shows.

Karnataka north-west graduates’ constituency recorded 59% polling, south graduates’ constituency 70% and north-west teachers’ constituency 80%, according to the Chief Electoral Officer.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is hoping to secure as many seats as possible to take its numbers in the upper house higher and have a comfortable majority, which would allow the smooth passage of bills.

The controversial anti-conversion bill, passed by the lower house in December last year, is yet to be tabled in the upper house where the BJP did not have the majority until earlier this month.

The BJP and Congress have fielded one candidate each from all four constituencies while the JD(S) has fielded its hopefuls in three.

The BJP has fielded Arun Shahpur from the north-west teacher’s constituency against MP Prakash Hukkeri from the Congress and Chandrashekar Esappa Loni from the JD(S).

The BJP has fielded MLC MV Ravishankar from the south graduates’ constituency against Madhu G Madegowda of the Congress and HK Ramu of the JD(S).

Nirani Hanmant Rudrappa of the BJP takes on Sunil Annappa Sank of the Congress in the north-west graduates’ constituency where it will be a two-way fight as the JD(S) has not fielded anyone from this seat.

Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai is taking no chances with these elections to continue the winning streak after the June 10 Rajya Sabha polls in which the BJP managed to edge out the Congress and JD(S) to secure three out of the four seats from the state to the upper house.

The results for the teachers’ and graduates’ constituency elections will be declared on June 15.