Karnataka MLC polls: Congress eyes big win to secure majority in Legislative Council

With 17 Member of Legislative Council (MLC) seats on the line, two elections in Karnataka in June will be vital to the state Congress’s aim of achieving a majority in the upper house of the state legislature.

Winning 13 seats would mean that the Congress would have a clear majority in the Council for the first time since its landslide victory in the Assembly elections in May 2023. And this, Congress leaders hope, would help the government clear several bills stonewalled by coalition partners BJP and Jana Dal (Secular) in the Council where the two parties currently enjoy a slim majority.

The first of the two elections will be held on June 3 for six MLCs elected by teachers and graduates, while the second is on June 13 for 11 seats elected by members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs).

The 75-member Legislative Council, including the chairman, has 32 BJP MLCs, 29 Congress MLCs, seven JD(S) MLCs and one Independent. Five seats are vacant owing to the resignation of MLCs Tejaswini Gowda and K P Nanjundi from BJP, Marithibbe Gowda from JD(S) and Jagadish Shettar from Congress, who rejoined BJP to contest the Lok Sabha elections.

For the June 3 election, the Congress will face the combined opposition of BJP and JD(S) who decided to continue their alliance post the Lok Sabha elections. The party has to win all six seats to ensure a majority in the upper house by mid-June. The result of the June 13 election for 11 seats is a foregone conclusion as Congress will secure seven seats, BJP three and JD(S) one, by virtue of their numbers in the Legislative Assembly.

In such a case, the Congress will enjoy a simple majority of 38 seats in the Council, reducing the NDA numbers to 35. One seat, vacant due to the resignation of Shettar, will