The battle among political parties to take the fourth seat in elections to Rajya Sabha from Karnataka is curiously poised with the Congress candidate filing nomination on Monday and the Janata Dal (Secular) candidate expected to file his nomination on Tuesday even as the BJP is learnt to be still weighing options.
With Tuesday being the last date for filing nomination, all eyes are now on the BJP to know if it would field its candidate to make it a triangular fight in an election where none of the three parties have enough numbers to secure victory of their candidates – raising fears of cross-voting and horse-trading. The BJP leaders are tight-lipped about the party’s strategy for the fourth seat. While 45 votes are required for winning, the JD(S) and the BJP have 32 each and the Congress has 25 votes. In the other three seats, the BJP is set to win two and the Congress will win one.
On Monday, Congress candidates – former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh, and Mansoor Ali Khan – filed their nomination while BJP candidates Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and actor Jaggesh are filing their nomination papers on Tuesday. The election to four seats is slated to be held on June 10.
