BENGALURU: The only Rajya Sabha seat that rebels and independents could swing — of a total four from Karnataka — has gone the Congress way.
The elections were held on Saturday, and the results announced the same evening.
K C Ramamurthy won over JD(S) candidate B M Farook, bringing victory also to Congress strategist D K Shivakumar over his arch rival H D Kumaraswamy of the JD(S).
Ramamurthy got 52 votes, the highest among all winners, and put paid to the hopes of the JD(S), whose Farook got just 33 of the required 45 votes. However, 33 was a vote more than expected, with an independent MLA voting in Farook’s favour.
Eight of the 40 MLAs in the JD(S) cross-voted for the Congress. Led by Zameer Ahmed Khan, they had openly announced they would defy their party bosses. They even showed their ballot papers to JD(S) agent H D Revanna.
The other winners were Congress candidates Jairam Ramesh with 47 votes, and Oscar Fernandes with 46 votes. Given the strength of the parties in the Assembly, these victories were expected.BJP candidate Nirmala Sitharaman with 46 votes was placed second to Oscar Fernandes in terms of seniority, after after lots were drawn since they had received an equal number of votes.
A candidate needed 45 votes for a victory. The BJP has 44 seats in the Assembly, and it wasn’t difficult for it to get an additional vote.
Accusations and counter-accusations, frayed tempers and verbal abuses marked the day of polling for the four Rajya Sabha seats on Saturday.
It started with Congress MLA H G Ramakrishna arriving to vote with Congress MLC Govindaraju in tow, saying he required assistance to vote as he was not feeling well. Revanna objected saying that no medical certificate was given.
At the same time, D K Shivakumar entered the polling booth, irking Revanna, and they launched into a diatribe with Revanna insisting he had no business entering the booth and Shivakumar retorting that he was an agent too and he had every right to be there.
Soon, it turned into a shouting match much to the chagrin of Election Observer Anil Kumar Jha and Returning Officer S Murthy. Revanna later took serious objection to Shivakumar accompanying the eight JD(S) rebels to the booth.
Later, JD(S) spokesperson Ramesh Babu, who shot off 12 letters to the Election Commission of India, said that many violations had occurred in the election process. “Ramakrishna came in at noon, but voted only at 3pm. He was allowed to sit inside all the while. His ballot paper was then kept by the Returning Officer till he cast his vote,” he said. Ramesh Babu said another MLA, Rudresh Gowda, also came with a medical certificate, but according to Rudresh, he was feeling fine.