Former PM HD Deve Gowda has filed his nomination for the June 19 Rajya Sabha polls from Karnataka

Bengaluru:

Former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) chief HD Deve Gowda today filed his nomination as the party’s candidate for the June 19 Rajya Sabha elections from Karnataka.

The former Prime Minister was accompanied by his sons, former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and former Minister HD Revanna, state JD(S) chief HK Kumaraswamy and others, as he filed his papers at the office of Legislative Assembly Secretary MK Vishalakshi, who is the returning officer for the polls.

JD(S) on Monday had announced that Mr Gowda will be contesting the Rajya Sabha polls.

Announcing the decision, Mr Kumaraswamy had said that Mr Deve Gowda decided to contest following the request of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, several national leaders and party legislators, and it was not an easy task to “persuade” him to enter the Rajya Sabha.

The JD(S), which has 34 seats in the assembly, is not in a position to win a seat in the Rajya Sabha on its own and will need support from the Congress with its surplus votes.

A minimum of 45 votes are required for a candidate to win.

If he wins, this will be the second Rajya Sabha entry for 87-year-old HD Deve Gowda, the first time being in 1996 as the Prime Minister.

Mr Deve Gowda was defeated in Tumkur constituency by BJP’s GS Basavaraj by over 13,000 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

As joint candidate of the then ruling Congress-JDS coalition, Mr Deve Gowda had chosen to contest from Tumkur at the last minute after vacating Hassan – his home turf, to grandson Prajwal Revanna (a current MP).

Election is scheduled on June 19 to fill four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka, represented by Rajeev Gowda and BK Hariprasad of Congress, Prabhakar Kore of the BJP and D Kupendra Reddy of JD(S) that will fall vacant on June 25, with their retirement.

Today is the last date for filing nominations.

With BJP not fielding any candidate against Mr Deve Gowda, his election is likely to be unanimous.
 

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