BENGALURU: In a major setback to the ruling Congress and chief minister D K Shivakumar, the BJP-led NDA won all four Karnataka Legislative Council seats that went to polls on October 23, sweeping both teachers’ and graduates’ constituencies.
JD(S) candidate A P Ranganath defeated Congress veteran and five-time MLC Puttanna in the Bengaluru Teachers’ constituency, while BJP candidate Shashil G Namoshi registered his fifth victory in the North-East Teachers’ constituency, defeating Congress nominee Sharanappa Mattur by 3,297 votes. Namoshi secured 15,596 first-preference votes against Mattur’s 12,299. Counting concluded at Kalaburagi, where around 30,253 voters had exercised their franchise. Of the votes counted, 28,380 were valid, while 1,873 were rejected. This is the second biennial legislative council election since Shivakumar became chief minister on June 3. In the June 18 elections to seven council seats from the MLAs’ quota, Congress won five seats and the BJP secured two. Ranganath won the Bengaluru Teachers’ constituency on his third attempt, defeating Puttanna by 908 votes. He secured 10,810 first-preference votes against Puttanna’s 9,902. Ranganath had lost to Puttanna in the 2022 and 2024 elections. Puttanna had contested as a BJP candidate in 2022 before switching to Congress for the 2024 by-election.
In the other graduates’ constituency, BJP candidate KM Suresh won the seat, ensuring that the NDA did not concede any ground to the ruling party in the elections. In the West Graduates’ constituency, Sankanur secured his third consecutive victory, defeating Congress rival Mohan Limbikai. However, the ruling party failed to replicate that performance in the teachers’ and graduates’ constituencies. This time, he capitalised on a sympathy wave to secure victory.