Congress bags 5 of 7 Council seats in Karnataka MLC polls

In the first electoral battle since the new government under Chief Minister D K Shivakumar took charge in Karnataka, the ruling Congress on Thursday won five of the seven Legislative Council seats that went to polls, while the opposition BJP bagged two.

The results also brought to light cross-voting by BJP and JD(S) legislators in favour of Congress



candidates, as the total number of votes received by the ruling party is 151, which is 11 votes more than the expected 140 votes, sources said.

Eight candidates were in the fray for seven MLC seats to be elected by MLAs, for which voting was held on Thursday at Vidhana Soudha. Votes were subsequently counted in the evening.