Rule BJP and protest Congress Won one teacher each in the biennial election Karnataka Legislative Council whose results were declared on Wednesday, while counting of votes is underway for two graduate seats, with both the national parties leading one each. BJP candidate from West Teachers’ Constituency Basavaraj Horatti created history in the country by getting elected to the upper house of the legislature for a record eighth term, while former MLA and MP Light Hukkeri won the North-West Teachers’ Constituency for Congress.

The constituencies of North-West Graduates’, South Graduates’, North-West Teachers’ and West Teachers’ constituencies went to polls on Monday, with an overall turnout of 71.01 percent.

Elections to the four seats of the Upper House of the Karnataka Legislature were necessitated as the tenures of Nirani Hanamanta Rudrappa (NW graduate) of the BJP and KT of the JD(S) were necessitated. srikante Gowda (S-Graduates’), BJP’s Arun Shahapur (NW Teachers’) and JD(S)’s Basavaraj Horatti (W-Teachers’) are expiring on July 4.

This is a major setback for the JD(S) as the two seats it won last time, the party has lost West Teachers and is on the verge of losing the constituency of South Graduates.

Horati, who had until recently been the Speaker of the Legislative Council, resigned from the post to join the BJP ahead of the elections and won the West Teachers constituency on a party ticket, winning 9,266 votes.

His nearest rival, Congress’ Basavaraj Gurikar, got 4,597 votes, while JD(S)’s Srisail Gadadini got just 273 votes.

Horati, who has been consistently elected MLC since 1980, had recently ended his long association with the JD(S) by joining the BJP.

The 76-year-old, considered one of the most senior MLCs, is seen as a prominent Lingayat face from northern Karnataka. He was the education minister in the state, and was elected as the chairman of the Legislative Council in February 2021.

In the North-West Teachers’ Constituency, Arun Shahpur of the BJP, who was seeking re-election, lost to Prakash Hukkeri of the Congress. Both of them got 6,405 and 11,460 votes respectively, while Chandrashekhar Esappa Loni of JD(S) got 544 votes.

Counting of votes is underway for the South Graduate and North West Graduate constituencies.

In the South Graduates constituency, Madhu G Medegowda of Congress is leading against former MLC MV Ravi Shankar of BJP and HK Ramu of JD(S). According to sources, Medegowda is leading by a narrow margin.

The seat of the NW graduates saw a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress, with the JD(S) not in the fray.

Nirani Hanmant Rudrappa of BJP, who is seeking re-election, is leading against Sunil Annanappa Senk of Congress.

If the counting of votes continues, with the BJP and Congress managing to win one seat each, the 75-member Legislative Council will have 39 BJP members, 27 Congress and eight JD(S) and one independent.