Karnataka RS Polls: BJP Wins 3, Congress 1, JD(S) Draws Blank

Anand Singh

| Updated: 10 June, 2022 11:53 pm IST

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Lahar Singh Siroya and actor-politician Jaggesh won the three seats for BJP in Karnataka

BENGALURU/ NEW DELHI: The BJP won three seats while Congress bagged one in the Rajya Sabha polls in Karnataka. In a big jolt, former Prime Minister HD Devegowda’s Janata Dal (Secular) could not manage to win any seat in the state. Even one of his MLAs went on record to say that he voted for the Congress candidate because he loved it.

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Lahar Singh Siroya and actor-politician Jaggesh won the three seats for BJP. Former Union minister Jairam Ramesh won a seat for Congress.

The BJP, Congress and the JD(S) despite not having the adequate number of votes to win the fourth seat from the state assembly had fielded candidates for the seat, forcing an election.

The six candidates in the fray for the Rajya Sabha polls from the state were – Sitharaman, Jaggesh and outgoing MLC Lehar Singh Siroya from the BJP. The Congress had fielded Ramesh and state general secretary Mansoor Ali Khan while the JD(S) fielded former MP D Kupendra Reddy.

JD(S) Kolar MLA K Srinivas Gowda after casting his vote declared that he voted for the Congress candidate. Speaking to the media, Gowda said, “I have voted for Congress because I love it.”

Biennial elections for 57 Rajya Sabha seats were announced recently. Out of this, 41 candidates in Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Telangana, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand have declared elected unopposed on June 4.

However, elections for 16 seats were necessitated as the number of candidates exceeds the seats going to the polls.