3 min readBengaluruJun 18, 2026 10:20 PM IST
First published on: Jun 18, 2026 at 10:16 PM IST
Along expected lines, Congress won five of the seven seats in the biennial polls held for the Legislative Council on Thursday. The party benefitted from alleged cross-voting by BJP and JD(S) legislators.
The JDS, which had nominated Govindaraju as candidate at the last minute, suffered from cross-voting as he secured only 14 first preference votes. This was fewer than the 18 first preference votes JD(S) had by virtue of its strength in the Legislative Assembly revealing that some of its MLAs had voted for the Congress candidate.
Due to this, Congress’s fifth candidate Vinay Karthik secured an easy win. Karthik is an aide of Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.
“I received more votes than expected. I was expecting 28, including second preference votes. I got 32,” he told reporters following the polls. Each candidate had to secure a minimum of 27.63 first preference votes from MLAs to win the polls. In case of a tie, second preference votes are counted.
Among the winning candidates include Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president B K Hariprasad, who returned to the Karnataka Legislative Council for a second term with 30 first preference votes. Tippannappa Kamaknoor, who is also elected for a second term with 30 votes; P V Mohan with 29 and Shivanna Malavalli with 30 votes are the other winning candidates from Congress.
JD(S) expectations of getting excess votes from BJP had fallen flat, as BJP decided to cast 30 first preference votes for each of its candidates — two more than the minimum threshold. However, in another twist, a few BJP MLAs appear to have also cross-voted as one of its candidates Lingaraj Patil secured only 27 first preference votes. However, was declared winner in the elimination round.
Patil said that he had not expected cross-voting during the polls. “Party leaders will take note of it and take a call. We will know who cross-voted,” he said.
Another winning BJP candidate Raghu Kautilya got 29 first preference votes, one less than expected fuelling concerns over cross-voting in the saffron party. According to him, one vote cast to him was invalidated.
AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala, told a news conference that all five Congress candidates won in the first round.
Five candidates of Congress, Thippannappa Kamknoor, PV Mohan, BK Hariprasad (KPCC president), Shivanna B S, and Vinay Karthik Prakash emerged victorious in the Legislative Council seats that went to polls. (PTI Photo) 
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