Eight In Race As Karnataka Legislative Council Elections Near

<p>Bengaluru, Jun 11 (PTI) Eight candidates are in the fray for the upcoming election to seven Legislative Council seats in Karnataka, scheduled for June 18, election officials said on Thursday.</p> <p>Members of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly will cast their votes at Vidhana Soudha.</p> <p>Thursday was the last date for withdrawal of candidature, and all eight candidates who filed nominations are in the fray, officials said.</p> <p>The Council elections are necessitated as the terms of seven MLCs&mdash;Congress leaders Naseer Ahmed, Tippannappa, and B K Hariprasad; BJP leaders N Nagaraju (MTB), Prathap Simha Nayak K, and Sunil Vallyapur; and JD(S) leader Govindaraju&mdash;are set to expire upon their retirement on June 30.</p> <p>The candidates who are in the fray are Congress&rsquo;s Thippannappa Kamknoor, P V Mohan, B K Hariprasad (KPCC president), Shivanna B S, and Vinay Karthik Prakash; BJP&rsquo;s Lingaraj Patil and Raghu R; and JD(S) leader Govindaraju.</p> <p>The Congress and BJP are expected to comfortably win four and two seats respectively, based on their strength in the Assembly, officials said.</p> <p>However, a contest is likely for the seventh seat, as both Congress and JD(S) have fielded candidates despite not having enough strength to win it on their own, they said.</p> <p>Earlier in the day, JD(S) candidate Govindaraju told reporters that Congress candidate Shivanna has not disclosed four criminal cases against him in his nomination. He said he complained to the returning officer and sought the rejection of his nomination.</p> <p>However, Shivanna subsequently clarified that there were no criminal cases or FIRs against him.</p> <p>Calling the allegations a "conspiracy born out of fear of defeat," he said, "He is the complainant in the cases, not the accused; why should I mention it in the nomination? Our advocate has given the necessary clarification to officials." The ruling Congress has 134 MLAs in the 224-member Assembly, followed by the BJP with 62. The JD(S) has 18 MLAs. There is also one member each from Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha and Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha, two Independents, three unattached members, and the Speaker. Two seats are vacant.&nbsp;</p> <p><em><strong>(Disclaimer: This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)</strong></em></p>

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