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The Rajya Sabha elections for four seats from Karnataka is being keenly watch with the entry of a fifth candidate for the four seats in the state.
The entry of multi-millionaire real estate baron, D Kupendra Reddy, a Janata Dal (Secular)-BJP candidate has turned the elections to the fourth seat into a keen contest. Reddy, who declared Rs 1,200 crore assets in his election affidavit, has been fielded by the JD(S)-BJP combine. Reddy is confident that he will get the votes to win the election. Earlier, the Congress has complained that MLAs are being blackmailed to vote for Kupendra Reddy. A Congress delegation filed a complaint with the Bengaluru Police Commissioner. In Karnataka, three MPs from the Congress and one from the BJP are retiring and the outcome after the elections will be the same.As numbers stand in the Karnataka Assembly, the Congress is assured of three seats, and the BJP of one. Each Rajya Sabha candidate needs at least 45 votes in the 224-MLA Karnataka Assembly to win a Rajya Sabha seat from the state. The Congress with 135 MLAs has the exact number to elect its three candidates, Ajay Maken, Nasir Hussain and G C Chandrashekhar while the BJP has 66 MLAs, which means it can easily get its main candidate, party worker Narayansa Bhandage, elected. Combined with the 19 JD(S) MLAs, the BJP-JDs second candidate Kupendra Reddy will need to get support of three Independents and get at least three Congress MLAs to cross-vote if he wants to win. In the 2022 Rajya Sabha polls, cross-voting by two JD(S) MLAs that had caused the surprise defeat of Reddy, then a JD(S) candidate. Voting for 56 Rajya Sabha seats from 15 states, which are falling vacant in April, will be held on Tuesday. While 50 members retire on April 2, six will retire the following day. Of the 238 members of the Upper House at present, 109 are from NDA parties while 89 belong to parties in the INDIA alliance. The term for Rajya Sabha MPs is six years, and elections are held after every two years for 33 per cent of the seats. Currently, the Rajya Sabha has a strength of 245 members. The Rajya Sabha MPs are elected by the MLAs in an indirect election through the system of proportional representation. They are mostly foregone conclusions, with elections being held unopposed and all party candidates sailing through. A total of 56 seats are falling vacant in this round of the biennial elections. The BJP can win 27 seats as per its numbers, plus 1 more with the help of the BJD in Odisha. (ANI)
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