Congress wins five of seven Legislative Council seats in Karnataka

Karnataka's ruling Congress won five of seven Legislative Council seats on Thursday, while the opposition BJP secured two seats, according to official sources. Sources indicated cross-voting by legislators from both BJP and JDS, as Congress candidates received more votes than expected. Eight candidates contested for the seven seats in voting held at the state legislature.

The Congress candidates — Thippannappa Kamkannur, P.V. Mohan, B.K. Hariprasad, Shivanna B.S., and Vinay Kartik Prakash — all won, along with BJP's Lingraj Patil and Raghu R. JDS candidate Govindraj lost. The election was held as the terms of seven incumbent members end on June 30.

Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar denied using cross-voting as a strategy, stating Congress relied on the discretion of voting legislators. He noted that speculation about cross-voting was premature given the secret ballot nature of the election.