New Delhi: The Indian National Congress (INC) that has been seeking the ouster of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar for alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Review (SIR) of electoral rolls, suffered a major setback on Wednesday by failing to win a single seat in the biennial Member of Legislative Council (MLC) elections across four states – Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Maharashtra.
The party had contested 28 MLC seats in these states but drew a complete blank. Incidentally, these elections were held using ballot papers. The Congress has been demanding that all polls in the country be held using ballot papers instead of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
The jolt was particularly harsh in Karnataka where the Congress is in power. The BJP-JD(S) combine won all the four seats in the state.
The sharpest blow came in the Bengaluru Teachers’ Constituency, where JD(S) candidate A P Ranganath defeated sitting Congress MLC Puttanna by a margin of 908 votes. Ranganath secured 10,810 votes against Puttanna’s 9,902.
In the North-East Teachers’ Constituency, incumbent BJP MLC Shashil G Namoshi defeated Congress’s Sharanappa Mattur by 3,297 votes. This marked Namoshi’s fifth victory in a segment covering Kalaburagi, the home turf of AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge.
The South-East Graduates’ Constituency was won comfortably by the BJP’s K M Suresh, who defeated Shashi Hulikunte Mutt of the INC by a margin of 23,098 votes. Sitting BJP MLC S V Sankanur retained his seat in the West Graduates’ Constituency by defeating Congress candidate Mohan Limbikai by 9,323 votes.
What should be of concern for the party is that these constituencies represent educated professionals and teachers. It raises questions about the ruling state government’s influence among organized professional voter groups.
That the Congress lost despite voting being conducted using paper ballots, prompted immediate political retorts from the opposition BJP in Karnataka regarding the party’s historic stance on voting systems.
In Bihar, the Legislative Council elections brought mixed results for the major coalitions, but the headline story was the spectacular debut of a new political entrant. Prashant Kishor’s newly formed Jan Suraaj Party opened its account with Suresh Prasad Rai winning the Darbhanga Teachers’ constituency by defeating sitting Congress MLC Madan Mohan Jha by 324 votes.
While the BJP won the Tirhut Teachers’ seat with Narendra Prasad Singh defeating independent candidate Bhushan Kumar Jha, the party suffered a major blow after the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) wrested the
Patna Teachers’ seat. RJD’s Sanjeev Singh unseated sitting BJP MLC Nawal Kishor Yadav, who had held the seat for nearly three decades.
Former chief minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) performed strongly in the Graduates’ seats, with Neeraj Kumar leading the pack in Patna. Rebel BJP candidate Rahul Raj, who contested as an independent after being denied an NDA ticket, won the Saran Teachers’ constituency.
All eyes were on Uttar Pradesh where Assembly elections are slated to be held in a few months from now. The MLC elections in the state became a direct battle between the ruling BJP and the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP), completely squeezing out Congress.
The BJP secured key institutional strongholds, winning the Bareilly-Moradabad Teachers’ seat, the Lucknow Teachers’ constituency, and both the Teachers’ and Graduates’ constituencies in Meerut. However, the party received a jolt after the SP successfully challenged the ruling dispensation in religious and cultural hubs, winning the Varanasi Teachers’ constituency and the Agra-Aligarh Teachers’ constituency.
The results in Maharashtra are yet to be released, with the five seats likely to be shared by the Mahayuti alliance and the NCP-SP.