Crucial Council polls today, 25 seats up for grabs

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: Karnataka is all set for a mega poll battle to 25 Legislative Council seats from the local bodies constituencies on Friday when voting takes place.

The poll is billed as a litmus test for the ruling BJP and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to check their popularity amid reports that the Opposition Congress is on the comeback trail.

Around 95,000 voters of local bodies will exercise their franchise with the BJP and Congress contesting 20 of the 25 seats and the JD(S) in six. Though, H.D. Kumaraswamy (JD-S) has ruled out a formal alliance with the BJP, the party has allowed local leaders to take ‘suitable decisions.’ The BJP is toiling hard to win at least a dozen seats and increase its tally in the Upper House to ensure the safe passage of contentious bills.

In the Congress camp, Opposition leader Siddaramaiah and KPCC President D.K. Shivakumar in a rare show of unity, jointly campaigned in most constituencies but the party came under fire for denying the ticket to Opposition leader in the Council S.R. Patil.