Karnataka: Result shows some in Congress and JD(S) voted for BJP

BENGALURU: The result of last week’s Rajya Sabha elections, or rather the victory of Lahar Singh Siroya, BJP’s third candidate, has not only left Congress and JD(S) intrigued but has led to finger pointing and some soul searching. Siroya polled more than the leftover votes from his party, which indicates cross-voting not only from JD(S) but Congress too.

A section of functionaries is now blaming seniors in JD(S) and Congress for the fiasco. With a candidate needing 4,481 votes to win, BJP, with 122 MLAs (weightage of 100 for each vote) could have won only two seats. But Siroya bagged 3,617 votes when the party had only 3,200 votes left after winning the first two seats (Nirmala Sithara- man-4,600 and Jaggesh-4,400).
Congress, with 69 MLAs, had allotted 4,600 votes to its first candidate, Jairam Ramesh, while Mansoor Ali Khan, its second candidate, bagged 2,592 thanks to a cross-vote from JD(S) legislator K Srinivas Gowda. Another vote was presumably from Sharath Bachchegowda, who did not have to show his ballot paper before voting because he is an independent. Khan also got 92 surplus votes transferred from Ramesh.
Despite having 33 MLAs, the JD(S) candidate, D Kupendra Reddy, received only 3,000 votes. While Gowda openly admitted to voting for Congress, the identity of the other member who crossvoted is shrouded in mystery.
It’s clear that a first preference vote from JD(S) and two second preference votes meant for Congress candidate Mansoor Ali Khan were transferred. The identity of those who voted for Siroya though remains unclear.
While JD(S) has maintained a studied silence, Congress said that an internal “check” is underway to identify the black sheep.
HD Kumaraswamy, JD(S) floor leader, had blamed SR Srinivas, a dissident MLA from Gubbi. HD Revanna, the former chief minister’s MLA brother, who was party agent at the polling booth, claimed Srinivas did not show his ballot paper properly.
However, Srinivas denied the allegation, insisting that he voted for JD(S) candidate D Kupendra Reddy. Srinivas alleged someone from the Kumaraswamy camp had crossed-voted and he is being made the scapegoat.
“It is a known fact that Kumaraswany and I are not on good terms,” Srinivas said. “I have also made it clear that I will join Congress soon so I could have voted for Congress. But I did not. This means an MLA has crossvoted at the behest of Kumaraswamy as he had the twin objective of ensuring a win for the BJP candidate while blaming me. ”
But KA Tippe Swamy, MLC and JD(S) counting agent, rebutted Srinivas, saying: “It is clear Srinivas cross-voted. He covered his ballot paper when he showed it to our agent. ”
On the allegation that a couple of Congress members also facilitated Siroya’s win, KPCC working president R Dhruvanaraya said: “All votes of our 69 MLAs were intact. The two second preference votes Siroya got did not come from us. ”