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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate S.V. Sankanur has won the Karnataka Legislative Council election from the West Graduates' Constituency, defeating Congress candidate Mohan Limbikai by a margin of 9,323 votes.
According to election officials, Sankanur secured a decisive lead as the counting of preferential votes concluded, cementing the party's hold over the crucial constituency. The West Graduates' constituency encompasses the four districts of Dharwad, Haveri, Gadag, and Uttara Kannada. The contest saw a direct face-off between the BJP and the Congress, with Sankanur successfully retaining the seat after multiple rounds of counting. Earlier on October 27, in the Karnataka Legislative Council, JD(S)-BJP alliance candidate AP Ranganath won the Bengaluru Teachers Constituency, defeating Congress candidate and former Legislative Council member Puttanna. The election was held on October 23, and counting was held on Tuesday. In the teachers constituency, there was a direct contest between Congress and the JD(S)-BJP alliance. Puttanna has won several times from the same constituency. In the by-election held in 2024, as the Congress candidate, he had defeated JDS candidate AP Ranganath. This time, in the same constituency, the result was reversed. In this election, BJP and JDS allied and contested in four constituencies. Bengaluru Teachers Constituency was left to JDS. Transfer of votes of BJP workers and supporters to the JDS candidate was the main challenge for the alliance. Ranganath's victory has brought to the fore the importance of election coordination of alliance parties in this constituency. In the Bengaluru Teachers Constituency, 81.98 per cent polling was recorded. Teachers participated enthusiastically to elect their representative. The counting of votes for the biennial election-2026 to the Bengaluru Teachers Constituency of the Karnataka Legislative Council concluded peacefully, and BJP- and JDS-supported candidate AP Ranganath has been elected, informed Amlan Aditya Biswas, Regional Commissioner, Bengaluru and Returning Officer for Bengaluru Teachers Constituency and Karnataka South-East Graduates Constituency. The polls are also being viewed as an electoral test of the parties' organisational strength among graduates and teachers ahead of the 2028 Karnataka Assembly elections. Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the biennial elections on September 23, following the scheduled completion of the terms of the sitting members on November 11. The 75-member Karnataka Legislative Council currently has 38 Congress members, 24 from the BJP and six from the JD(S), along with one Independent and Chairman Saleem Ahmed. Five seats earmarked for government nominations are vacant. The October polls are separate from the seven-seat Legislative Council elections held on June 18, 2026, in which members were elected by MLAs. In those elections, the Congress won five seats and the BJP two, while the JD(S) candidate lost amid allegations of cross-voting. (ANI)
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