As the race for the fourth Rajya Sabha seat from Karnataka gets intense with candidates of all the three parties in the fray, both Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) are now using secularism card to “convince” each other to withdraw from the race to enable the defeat of the BJP candidate.
While a clear picture will emerge on the last date for withdrawal of nomination on Friday, the BJP currently seems to have an edge with higher number of additional votes and second preferential votes. This can, however, change if one of the candidates from the combined Opposition withdraws in favour of the other. Of the other three seats, BJP is set to win two and Congress one seat.
Lahar Singh Siroya (BJP), Mansoor Ali Khan (Congress), and Kupendra Reddy (JD-S) have filed nominations for the fourth seat. The elections are scheduled on June 10.
