The ruling BJP in Karnataka won 11 of the 25 Legislative Council seats, for which voting was held last Friday. After counting today, the party fell short of majority in the 75 member house. It had hoped to achieve this majority so that it would no longer depend on the Janata Dal Secular or JDS -- as it has in the past -- for the passage of bills.
The Congress also won 11 seats, while the HD Kumaraswamy's Janata Dal Secular won two of the six seats it contested. The seats were in Hassan, where a grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, Suraj Revanna, was victorious and in Mysuru.
The biennial election to the Council was held after the retirement of sitting council members. Of the outgoing members, 14 were from the Congress, seven from the BJP and four from the JDS.
Altogether, the BJP had 32 members in the house, the Congress 29 and the JDS 12.
On Friday, 20 BJP candidates, 20 Congress candidates and six candidates of the JDS
were in the race. Altogether, there were 90 candidates contesting for the 25 seats. The number of eligible voters was 99025.
