In June this year, the BJP and its NDA ally JD(S) in Karnataka were in for a shock when alleged cross-voting by several of their MLAs helped the ruling Congress win five of the seven seats in the then Legislative Council (MLC) elections while the BJP got only two.Four months later, the NDA has now turned the tables on the Congress, sweeping all the four graduate and teacher seats, for which the elections were held on October 23, with the BJP bagging three seats and the JD(S) winning one seat.AdvertisementWhile this outcome will not have an impact on the Congress’s majority in the 75-member Upper House, where the party has 38 members, it has boosted the Opposition coalition, which is likely to step up its pressure on the D K Shivakumar-led government in the coming days.The MLC poll results showed the BJP retaining its three seats – North East Teachers, West Graduates, and South East Graduates – with the JD(S) wresting the Bengaluru Teachers’ constituency from the Congress.Must Read | MLC Election Results 2026 Live Updates: BJP, allies sweep Karnataka, look comfortable in UP & MaharashtraJD(S) candidate A P Ranganath, who was in the fray for the third time from the Bengaluru Teachers’ seat, defeated the incumbent Congress candidate Puttanna, who had bagged it five times since 2002.AdvertisementPuttanna had won the seat four times as a JD(S) candidate. After being expelled from the JD(S) in 2019, he joined the BJP in 2020. In 2023, he switched to the Congress to contest, unsuccessfully, the Assembly election from Bengaluru’s Rajajinagar seat. In 2024, he won the bypoll for the Bengaluru Teachers’ seat on a Congress ticket.Ranganath was the NDA’s candidate in the 2024 bypoll too, but lost by 1,507 votes to Puttanna. In this election, however, he pulled off an upset by defeating Puttanna, garnering 10,810 votes against the latter’s 9,902.In the West Graduates’ seat, the BJP’s S V Sankanur registered a win for the third time, beating the Congress’s Mohan Limbikai by 9,323 votes. The BJP has been winning the seat since 2008.North East Teachers and South East Graduates have also been the BJP’s bastion. In the North East Teachers’ seat, the party’s Shashil G Namoshi won the seat for the fifth time since 1996. Namoshi clinched the seat with a margin of 3,297 votes, getting 15,596 votes against Mattur’s 12,299.Also Read | Why Maharashtra MLC poll numbers throw difficult questions at BJPThe South-East Graduates’ seat has been won either by the BJP or the JD(S) since 2008. The BJP dropped its incumbent MLC here, Chidanand Gowda, to field a fresh candidate, K M Suresh, this time. He polled 66,020 votes as against the Congress’s Shashi Hulikunte Mutt’s 42,922, reinforcing the BJP’s dominance in the segment.NDA upbeatThe BJP and the JD(S) hailed the MLC poll outcome as a victory against the “Congress misrule” in the state.Senior JD(S) leader and Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel, H D Kumaraswamy, said in an X post that “lies, misrule, money power, and muscle power have been defeated”.Calling the NDA’s win “historic”, Kumaraswamy claimed that it also sent a message for the state Assembly elections due in 2028. “This election has demonstrated that strength lies in unity and alliance,” he said.The Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the state Assembly and BJP leader, R Ashoka, said the results were “another warning” for the Congress government which, he alleged, was “losing the trust of the people due to administrative failure, corruption, and anti-people policies”. “This serves as a preface to how the people of the state will teach a fitting lesson to the Congress administration in the coming days,” he added.State BJP president B Y Vijayendra, while noting that the MLC polls were held by using ballot papers, sought to take a swipe at top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s campaign against “vote chori”. “Congress is not facing vote chori, but a trust chori. EVM or ballot papers, Karnataka… has delivered a decisive mandate against Congress,” he said.Also Read | Big upsets in Bihar MLC polls: Prashant Kishor’s party debuts, BJP veteran losesThe results were a “decisive snub to the corrupt forces conspiring to tarnish and attack constitutional institutions in the country,” he alleged.Congress on back footThe Congress camp was jolted by the MLC poll setback. Chief Minister Shivakumar said the party was hopeful of winning two seats. “We had one seat. We were expecting one more… We did not expect to lose Bengaluru (Teachers’),” he said, adding that the party candidates had however secured “a good number of votes,” he told reporters.Refusing to read much into the results, Shivakumar asked what was the NDA’s response to their defeats in several Assembly bypolls since the Congress assumed power in the state in May 2023.Responding to media queries, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president B K Hariprasad acknowledged the “threat” posed by the combined Opposition. “If the two parties join hands, there is a threat. We have to think about what to do about it in the coming days. BJP clearly knows that it cannot win on its own. They won the election by putting Kumaraswamy forward,” he said.Hariprasad denied that the alleged sting video about ex-CM Siddaramiah or the change of guard in the Congress government in June this year had a bearing on the current MLC polls. On whether the party’s defeat in these polls indicated “misgovernance” by its government in the state, he said the BJP has lost the MLC seats in Varanasi, which is represented in the Lok Sabha by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.