The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership in Karnataka said on Tuesday that disciplinary proceedings against party legislators accused of defying the official line in last week’s Legislative Council elections have already begun, even as secret balloting continues to prevent the party from publicly identifying those responsible.
Speaking in New Delhi after meeting the BJP national high command and Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, R Ashoka said the issue has been taken up by the party high command.
“We met our national president and had discussions on cross-voting issues. He assured us to leave it to him and said action has already been taken against those who betrayed the party. We also discussed the organizational issues of the party in detail. We also had discussions with our leaders regarding strengthening the party and bringing it to power in the coming days,” Ashoka said.
The meeting came days after the June 18 state legislative assembly elections, in which voting patterns sparked allegations that lawmakers from both the Bharatiya Janata Party and its ally, the JD(S), had defected.
Ashoka later said that legislators found to have voted against the party would not receive any leniency. “There is no question of amnesty for those who indulged in cross voting. They contested and won the elections on BJP symbol after getting tickets from the party. Betrayal of the party cannot be condoned then,” he said before the meeting.
However, he acknowledged that secret ballot elections make it impossible to definitively identify individual legislators. He added: “Since it was a secret ballot, the officials cannot be identified conclusively. We have certain doubts, but the matter will be discussed within the party.”
According to leaders in the know, the BJP central leadership has summoned state party chief P Vijayendra, Ashoka and state in-charge Radhamohan Das Agarwal to Delhi after expressing their displeasure over the alleged cross voting.
The state unit has meanwhile ordered its own probe and appointed a three-member committee comprising MLC CT Ravi, state vice president N Mahesh and MLA Mahesh Tenginakayi. The committee has been directed to submit its findings by June 25.
Although the party has not revealed how many legislators it believes have overstepped, internal voting calculations point to a broader rebellion than the leadership has officially acknowledged.
According to leaders familiar with the vote counting, the BJP actually controlled 64 votes after getting support from ousted leader Basanagoda Patil Yatnal. Thirty votes were allotted to Raghu Kautilya and Lingaraj Patil, while four surplus votes were expected to go to JD(S) candidate Govindraju.
Instead, Raghu Kautilya received 29 valid votes, with one additional vote in his favor declared invalid. Lingaraj Patil received only 27 votes, suggesting that at least three BJP legislators voted elsewhere. Party leaders acknowledged three dissenting votes but said the final figure could be higher once transfers of surplus votes were fully examined.
The voting pattern also revealed unexpected losses in the Jordanian dinar. The party, which has 18 MLAs, expected Govindaraju to get all 18 first preference votes before receiving BJP transfers. Instead, he polled 14 first-preference votes, suggesting at least four MPs had deviated from the party line. If all the four surplus votes are transferred to the BJP as planned, leaders in the know said the number of JD(S) cross votes could rise to eight.
