Karnataka: Rajya Sabha election to commence at 9 AM, Congress expects to win 3 seats

The election for Rajya Sabha in Karnataka will take place starting from 9 AM on 27th February. The process will continue until 4 PM. The counting will then begin at 5 PM. The Deputy Chief Minister (DCM) of Karnataka DK Shivakumar would be the booth  agent for the election. 

The contest is for 4 seats. There are 5 contestants for these seats. 45 votes are needed for a candidate to win. As a precautionary measure parties are trying to ensure that their favoured candidate accumulates 46 votes. 

The Indian National Congress (INC) currently has 134 Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) eligible for voting. They also have the support of 4 other non-partisan MLAs including Darshan Puttannaiah, Latha Mallikarjun, Puttaswamy Gowda and possibly even Janardhan Reddy. With the confidence of procuring 138 votes, INC is anticipating 3 of its candidates Ajay Maken, Nasser Hussain and G.C Chandrashekar to get elected. 

There are also speculations of cross voting from discontent Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs making rounds. To what extent these speculations will materialise and what impact it would have on the results were it to materialise remains to be seen.