Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Thursday dismissed suggestions that the ruling Congress had resorted to any special strategy for the biennial election to the Legislative Council from the Assembly and denied knowledge of any cross-voting by legislators from opposition parties.
Voting for the seven MLC seats by secret ballot was over on Thursday evening.
While the unified opposition of BJP and the JD(S) is set to win two seats, the fight is for the third seat, where the JD(S) has fielded a candidate despite lacking numbers.
The Congress is clearly winning four seats and is eyeing one more seat, which has made the contest interesting.
The ruling Congress, as well as the JD(S), had huddled their MLAs in resorts to prevent cross-voting.
MLAs S T Somashekar, A Shivaram Hebbar and Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, who have been expelled from the BJP for their anti-party activities and G T Deve Gowda from the JD(S) have said they are voting according to their ‘conscience’.
Speaking to reporters after voting, Shivakumar said the Congress had merely interacted with its legislators and ensured that first-time voters were properly guided on the preferential voting system.
"The voting is over. We have not done any strategy. There is no need for any strategy. The MLAs are aware and intelligent people; they are people's representatives. If they wanted to vote, they would have voted according to their own free will. Why should we do any strategy?" he said.
Rejecting speculation about cross-voting in favour of Congress candidates, Shivakumar said he was unaware of how individual legislators had cast their ballots.
"I don't know. Why would there be cross-voting? There is no need for it," he said when asked whether votes had come to Congress from BJP and JD(S) legislators.
Asked specifically whether opposition legislators may have supported Congress candidates, he said, "We have only asked people (Congress MLAs) to cast the votes that belong to us. That's all. I don't know what the candidates themselves may have done." The chief minister said the party's efforts had focused on educating legislators, particularly newcomers, about the preferential voting process to minimise invalid votes.
Shivakumar said he was only training the Congress MLAs on the preferential votes. In preferential voting, even marking the ballot correctly requires some care, he added.
"We shared our experience with them. Among the MLAs and councillors, around 60–70 are newcomers. They need to be careful with preferential voting," he said.
Referring to previous elections, Shivakumar said invalid votes were not uncommon even among educated electorates.
On claims that some BJP legislators seen with Congress leaders may have voted for the ruling party, Shivakumar said the election was being conducted through a secret ballot and that the results alone would reveal voting patterns.
"All 224 legislators are very close to me. I am the chief minister for all 224 MLAs, not just for Congress, BJP or JD(S). They are all my brothers," he said.
When pressed on whether BJP legislators who had publicly praised the Congress government may have voted in its favour, he said, "It is a confidential vote. I do not know how anyone has voted."
