Bengaluru: With the Karnataka High Court refusing to interfere in the issue pertaining to the disqualification of seven rebel JD(S) MLAs, the prospects of JD(S) candidate Mr B.M. Farooq look bleak in the Rajya Sabha biennial election, to be held on Friday.
While the BJP has the requisite numbers to get its candidate Rajeev Chandrashekhar elected, the Congress can get all its three candidates elected in the first round itself.
At the moment, the BJP has 45 members, while the JD(S) count stands at 30, with the seven rebel MLAs deciding to continue voting for the Congress like they did in the previous Rajya Sabha polls forcing the party to suspend them.
On the other hand, the Congress has 123 members and will have an additional 33 votes after allocating 45 votes for two of their candidates. The Congress also has the support of five independent MLAs, who aspire to contest on the Congress ticket in the forthcoming Assembly elections.
If the seven rebel JD(S) MLAs vote for the Congress as expected, even the third candidate of the party would get 45 votes. And even without the votes of the seven rebel MLAs, the Congress has 90 second preference votes, which would ensure the victory of its third candidate.
Sources said that JD(S) candidate Mr Farooq is in touch with independent MLAs as well as some of the disgruntled legislators in the Congress to reportedly seek their support. The JD(S) was waiting for the court's move and knew that its candidate Mr Farooq had a remote chance only if the seven rebel MLAs were denied voting rights. If the court had ruled against the rebels, it would have reduced the number of votes required for the victory of each candidate.
With the court not preventing the rebel MLAs from exercising their voting rights, the JD(S) has decided not to pursue the matter any further, sources said.
Meanwhile, the seven rebel MLAs have decided to resign on Friday afternoon, after casting their votes in the Rajya Sabha polls.
By doing so, the disqualification case against them, now pending with the Assembly Speaker Mr KB Koliwad, would become infructuous, sources added.
