Belagavi : BJP MLC M K Pranesh was on Friday elected as the Deputy Chairman of the Karnataka Legislative Council.

This is the second term for Pranesh as Deputy Chairman.

He won by securing 39 votes against Congress’ Arun Kumar Arali, who got 26 votes.

The JD(S), which has eight MLCs, remained neutral.

There was some heated exchange between Congress and JD(S) at the beginning of the election process.

JD(S) MLC Bhoje Gowda accused the Congress of not fielding a candidate against Council chairman Basavaraj Horatti (from BJP), during the election to the Chairman post held on Wednesday, as the latter belonged to an upper caste.

Horatti was elected unopposed as the chairman of Legislative Council, with no candidates in the fray from Congress and JD(S).

Leader of the Opposition B K Hariprasad, from the Congress, hit back stating that his party did not field a candidate against Horatti, considering his seniority and not his caste.

Horatti too said, “Don’t paint a caste colour on me. Many in this House don’t know what caste I belong to,” said the leader who belongs to the Lingayat community.