The biennial elections to seven council seats in Karnataka from the MLAs’ quota will be held on June 18.

According to an announcement in this regard by the Election Commission of India, the notification regarding the biennial polls will be issued on June 1, from when the process of filing of nominations will commence. The last day for filing nominations is June 11 while polling by MLAs will be held on June 18.

The counting of votes will also be held on June 18 while the last day for completion of the election process is June 20.

The biennial elections are being held as seven MLCs, who have been elected by the Legislative Assembly, are retiring on June 30. The retiring MLCs are Govindaraju (Congress), Naseer Ahmed (Congress), M.T.B. Nagaraju (BJP), Prathap Simha Nayak (BJP), Thippannappa (Congress), Sunil Vallyapur (BJP) and B.K. Hariprasad (Congress).

Presently, the ruling Congress has 37 members in the 75-member Upper House, followed by BJP (29 members), JDS (seven members), an Independent, and a Chairman. The ruling Congress is hoping to increase its tally in the House in these proposed polls.