Congress leads in Karnataka legislative council polls

Bengaluru, Dec 30 The ruling Congress led in 13 of the 25 Karnataka legislative council seats for which elections were held and counting of votes was in progress on Wednesday.

Biennial polling for the council was held in 20 districts across the state on December 27.

According to trends from all the counting centres, in the remaining 12 seats opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) led in six and four seats respectively, while independents are ahead in the two remaining seats.

"Counting of votes is underway peacefully at 20 centres across the state amid tight security and all results are expected by evening," an election official told IANS.

A record 99.6 percent voting was registered on Sunday.

A Congress spokesperson said the party's candidates in Bellari, Bengaluru urban, Bidar, Hassan, Raichur-Koppal and Udupi have won among the 13 seats.

Members of urban and local bodies and lawmakers from the state legislative assembly and parliament from the state form the electorate for the council polls.

In all, 125 candidates, including eight women, are in the fray.

The Congress contested for 21 seats, while opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 20 seats and the JD-S 18 seats.

In the 75-member council, the Congress has 28 seats, the BJP 30, JD-S 12, and independents four. One seat is vacant.

Of the total, 25 members are elected by the assembly and parliament lawmakers, 25 from local bodies, 11 are nominated by the state governor and seven are elected from the graduates' and teachers' constituencies.