NEW DELHI: An “upset” BJP leadership has summoned the party’s top Karnataka leaders to Delhi amid allegations of cross-voting by its MLAs in the state legislative council elections, in which the ruling Congress secured five of the seven seats.Also Read | Cracks in alliance: BJP-JD(S) hunt for ‘black sheep’ after Congress sweeps Karnataka MLC polls“The BJP high command is upset over cross-voting by BJP MLAs in Karnataka. State president B.Y. Vijayendra, Leader of Opposition R. Ashoka and state in-charge Radha Mohan Das Agarwal have been summoned to Delhi on June 23. Notably, 11 NDA MLAs in Karnataka allegedly cross-voted, leaving the BJP leadership displeased,” ANI quoted sources as saying.The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Karnataka comprises the BJP and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular).The BJP managed to win two seats, while the JD(S) candidate lost to Congress’s fifth nominee in a closely fought contest.The voting pattern pointed to significant cross-voting within the NDA ranks. While Congress, which has 135 MLAs in the Assembly, secured 151 votes — 16 more than its official strength — and saw all five of its candidates elected in the first round, the BJP and JD(S) fell short of their expected numbers.The BJP’s two candidates received a combined 56 votes against the party’s strength of 64. Lingaraj Patil polled 27 votes, three short of the 30 allotted to him, while Raghu R secured 29 votes, one less than the quota required for victory.The JD(S), which has 18 MLAs, managed only 14 votes for its nominee. Under the NDA’s seat-sharing arrangement, the BJP had reportedly directed three of its legislators to support the JD(S), which should have taken JD(S) tally to 21. The result has fuelled speculation that several NDA legislators voted for the Congress candidates.
How voting unfolded
The voting pattern pointed to significant cross-voting within the NDA ranks. While Congress, which has 135 MLAs in the Assembly, secured 151 votes — 16 more than its official strength — and saw all five of its candidates elected in the first round, the BJP and JD(S) fell short of their expected numbers.The BJP’s two candidates received a combined 56 votes against the party’s strength of 64. Lingaraj Patil polled 27 votes, three short of the 30 allotted to him, while Raghu R secured 29 votes, one less than the quota required for victory.The JD(S), which has 18 MLAs, managed only 14 votes for its nominee. Under the NDA’s seat-sharing arrangement, the BJP had reportedly directed three of its legislators to support the JD(S), which should have taken JD(S) tally to 21. The result has fuelled speculation that several NDA legislators voted for the Congress candidates.The results further burnished the credentials of chief minister DK Shivakumar, widely regarded as the Congress’s “troubleshooter.” The victory also came just days after he finally succeeded party veteran Siddaramaiah as chief minister following a leadership tussle that lasted more than two years.While the BJP maintained that only three legislators from its camp — apart from rebels already under suspicion — had cross-voted, party leaders alleged that at least eight JD(S) MLAs had backed Congress candidates. The JD(S) rejected the claim, contending that no more than four votes could have come from its ranks and that the remaining cross-votes likely originated from BJP legislators.GT Devegowda and MR Manjunath of JD(S) and BJP’s Ramesh Jarkiholi, BP Harish, M Chandrappa and HK Suresh were immediately under the lens, but all of them denied cross-voting.
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