Ahead of Legislative Council polls, Congress will hold mock election training for its legislators at the resort

Chief Minister DK Shivakumar greeted former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as AICC General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala looked on during the Congress Legislature Party meeting at a private resort in Bidadi, on the outskirts of Bengaluru, on Tuesday.

Ahead of the election to seven Legislative Council seats, the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) discussed election strategies at a resort near the city on Tuesday evening and lawmakers were asked to be present again at the resort on Wednesday for mock voting.

Out of the seven, the Congress and the BJP are poised to comfortably win four seats and two seats respectively, with one seat witnessing a fight between the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular), raising fears of cross-voting.

Members of the legislature are electors in elections held by secret ballot. The election is scheduled for Thursday. Chief minister DK Shivakumar, KPCC president BK Hariprasad, former chief minister Siddaramaiah and Congress general secretary in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala were among those present at the CLP.

Party sources said that while there were plans to inform legislators about the election process through mock ballots, allocation of preferential votes and mock voting as more than 30 legislators were elected for the first time, the party postponed it until Wednesday. “The number of votes to be distributed among his five candidates and other strategies will be decided on Wednesday,” the sources said. While Ramanagara legislator Iqbal Hussain fell ill and is admitted to hospital, party sources said he is expected to come to Vidhana Soudha to cast his vote.

Although the Congress was initially expected to keep its flock together by booking rooms at the resort and bringing lawmakers directly to the Vidhana Soudha for the vote on Thursday, it is now believed that the lawmakers may have stayed back at the resort or returned home after the CLP meeting. “Those residing in Bengaluru are likely to return home and those from far-flung districts are expected to stay back. Around 120 legislators attended the CLP meeting,” said a source.

A game with numbers

The Congress has 135 members and is supported by one Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha legislator, two independents and two members who were expelled from the BJP. After the disqualification of Vinay Kulkarni and the death of former minister D. Sudhakar, the total strength of the assembly is 222. The candidates must get at least 28 votes, according to the calculation.

Congress candidates KPCC president BK Hariprasad, Tippanna Kamakanoor, PV Mohan and BS Shivanna and BJP candidates Lingaraj Patil and Raghu Kautilya are expected to cruise comfortably.

All eyes are on Congress’ Vinay Karthik and JD(S) candidate Govindaraju. If the Congress decides to allocate 29 votes to the top four candidates to ensure the security of its candidates, Mr. Karthik will be left with 24 votes and if 28 votes are given to the top four candidates, he will be left with only about the required number and is expected to be supported by second preference votes.

The JD(S) expects to get seven votes from its alliance partner BJP, along with one vote from expelled BJP member Basannagouda Patil Yatnal and 18 of its own, taking its tally to 26, still two votes short. Party sources said Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy will meet party legislators on Wednesday to strategize ahead of the polls.

Preparation for urban civic surveys

The Congress legislators have been asked to pave the way for five corporations in the Greater Bengaluru Authority region and zilla panchayat and taluk panchayat elections in their respective constituencies. Sources said that during the Congress Legislature Party session, the legislators were asked to be ready for the elections as the government decided to hold the GBA, ZP and TP elections early. The ongoing Special Intensive Review (SIR) of electoral rolls by the Election Commission of India was also discussed during the CLP meeting.

Published – 16 Jun 2026 22:11 IST