New Delhi: P. Puttanna of the Congress party has won the election to the Karnataka legislative council from the Bangalore Teachers’ seat, by defeating the candidate backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance.
The victory of Puttanna assumes significance given that it is the first electoral test following the formation of the BJP-JD(S) alliance. Buoyed up by the victory, the Congress described it as the prevailing mood of the Karnataka electorate ahead of upcoming Lok Sabha polls in the state.
While Congress’s Puttana polled 8,260 votes, JD (S) candidate Ranganath had 6,753 votes. Puttanna secured the victory by a margin of 1,507 votes. Out of the total 16,063 votes cast, 1,000 votes were rejected on account of them being ‘invalid’. The by-poll to the Teachers’ constituency seat in the Council involves voting by registered teachers.
Interestingly, for Puttanna, this is the fifth straight win from the constituency, and he recorded victories from all three parties, now with Congress, and earlier with BJP and JD (S). The by-poll was necessitated after he quit the seat in March 2023 to contest the Assembly elections on a Congress ticket but lost the poll. Before joining the BJP in 2020, Puttanna had won the Council poll thrice on JD (S) tickets.
Karnataka Congress chief and deputy chief minister D.K. Shivkumar said the by-poll result is an indicator of things, especially given that Lok Sabha elections are around the corner. “I would like to say that some BJP-JD(S) leaders claimed that the polls will be an indicator of things to come. The results have come and Puttanna of the Congress has won the polls. He has won for the fifth consecutive time. The voters who are educated and are teachers have rejected the BJP-JD(S) (alliance) and have voted for the Congress. The same mood will prevail in the state in the Lok Sabha polls,” Shivakumar said, according to The Indian Express.
Chief minister Siddaramaiah also weighed in. “This constituency is the one which Puttanna had resigned from to contest the Assembly elections. He is contesting for the fifth time. In the past, he has defeated the BJP and the JD(S). He has the support of the teachers and has also won their hearts and this has helped him win the teachers’ constituency four times in a row.”
The victory of Puttana, however, will not change the scenario in the 75-member legislative council, where the BJP and JD (S) combine has the upper hand. The BJP has 34 members, the Congress 29, the JD(S) 8, and 1 Independent member, besides the chairman and two vacancies in the House.
