Karnataka CM DK Shivakumar cast his vote in MLC elections

Congress MLA and former minister Santosh Lad expressed confidence in the party's prospects and said, "We are very confident, and according to me, all five candidates will win comfortably."

Senior Congress leader Satish Jarkiholi also asserted that the party had the required numbers to secure victory. "All our five contestants will win, there is no doubt. We have the numbers necessary to win," he said.

Admitting the presence of factions within the party, Jarkiholi added, "Yes, there are groups in Congress, but they will still vote for the party."

Congress MLA Dinesh Gundu Rao echoed similar confidence and said, "We will win all 5 seats with our own votes. We took our MLAs yesterday, where mock voting was also held. We have enough numbers."

Congress MLA KN Rajanna claimed that the BJP's alleged reallocation of votes indicated that the JD(S) candidate was headed for defeat.

"Due to the confirmation of defeat of the JD(S) candidate, the BJP has re-allocated the number of votes. It shows that the JD(S) candidate will lose," Rajanna said.

Voting for 7 seats of the Karnataka Legislative Council began at 9 AM at Vidhana Soudha and will continue till 4 PM.

Two polling booths have been set up inside the state secretariat to facilitate secret voting by MLAS.

The polls were necessitated by the upcoming retirement of seven MLCS whose terms conclude on June 30.

The outgoing members include Congress's Govindaraju, Naseer Ahmed, Thippannappa, and B.K. Hariprasad, as well as BJP's M.T.B. Nagaraju, Prathap Simha Nayak, and Sunil Vallyapur.

In the 75-member Upper House, Congress currently has 37 seats, while the BJP has 29, while JD(S) has seven seats, followed by one Independent member, and the Chairman. Through these elections, the Congress aims to further bolster its tally in the Council. (ANI)