Karnataka BJP leaders brief Nitin Nabin on MLC poll cross-voting, party yet to identify rebel MLAs

New Delhi: Karnataka BJP president BY Vijayendra and Leader of Opposition R Ashoka on Tuesday met BJP national president Nitin Nabin in Delhi and apprised him of the cross-voting in the recent state legislative council elections.

Sources told ET that contrary to reports suggesting that the central BJP leadership had summoned the state leaders, it was the state leaders themselves who offered to come to Delhi and explain the situation. Immediately after the Karnataka MLC election results were declared on June 16, the BJP formed a three-member committee, led by CT Ravi, to identify the three to four MLAs who allegedly cross-voted in favour of the Congress.

The committee is scheduled to submit its report to the state president on June 25. Before the meeting with Nabin, Ashoka told media persons that the strongest possible action would be taken against the MLAs involved.


However, the real challenge for the party is that it is yet to identify the MLAs who cross-voted. During their meeting with Nabin, both Vijayendra and Ashoka reportedly said that they had shortlisted around a dozen MLAs, of whom three to four could be the ones who cross-voted.

Party leaders told ET that since the election was conducted through a secret ballot, where voters are not required to show their vote to party agents-as is the case in Rajya Sabha elections-identifying the cross-voters is akin to finding a needle in a haystack.

According to party sources, 11 NDA legislators did not vote in favour of the JDS candidate Govindaraju. Four BJP votes were rendered ineffective, one vote was declared invalid, and at least three instances of cross-voting by BJP legislators have been confirmed. The Ravi-led committee is expected to present its first report on June 25.