Council by-poll victory essential for Congress

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Polling for the Bengaluru Teachers constituency which concluded on Friday will have long-term consequences for the ruling Congress and Opposition BJP and JD(S).

The results for the by-poll will be out on Tuesday. JD(S) had fielded their party state legal cell president AP Ranganath with the backing of allies BJP.

Meanwhile, Congress candidate is Putanna, who had held the seat until last year. He had left the BJP for Congress last year, thereby vacating the seat under the anti-defection law.

Putanna had contested from the Rajaji Nagar Assembly constituency on a Congress ticket and lost to BJP incumbent Suresh Kumar back in May.

Congress has a simple majority of 135 in the 224 member Karnataka Assembly while BJP has 66 and JD(S) is the third largest party with 19 seats.

The Grand Old Party finds it easier to cobble together a two-thirds majority to pass Bills in the Assembly. However, their numbers in the 75-member Council are far less impressive at 28, which is less than one third of the House.

Therefore, Congress is trying to build a strong majority in the lower House with time to be able to push their legislation through more smoothly. BJP has 36 members in the Council while allies JD(S) have eight.

Two more Council seats are vacant. There have been mixed results for the Congress as the BJP and JD(S) had managed to block the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) Bill in the Council back in July last year.

However, the ruling party was able to pass 17 Bills in both Houses in the winter session held in Belagavi in December last year.

Of the 75 MLCs, 64 win through elections and 11 are nominated by the Governor and serve for six years.

Moreover, 17 MLCs will see their term end in June. One more will vacate his seat before the year is out. As many as 11 of these soon-tobe-vacated Council seats are elected by MLAs.

Congress wants to start this stretch on a winning note by snagging the Bengaluru Teachers constituency which has been held by Puttanna four times.