Click to play videoNew Delhi: Eight Karnataka Assembly constituencies are going for by-elections on Saturday which were necessitated, following the resignation of seven sitting MLAs and the death of a legislator in Maddur.
The seven MLAs - four belonging to the Janata Dal (Secular), and three from the Congress - resigned to join the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) just a few days after Karnataka Assembly elections in May.
The political coup was termed Operation Lotus and now it's the time for reckoning.
Voters will decide whether they endorse defection politics or not.
The by-election is crucial for the BJP which is just three seats short of the halfway mark of 113 in the 224-member Assembly.
So far, BJP has depended on six independents to stay in power.
"Main idea is to get stability to the government and also add more strength to it," says BJP spokesperson V Dhananjay Kumar.
The BJP had offered the defectors Cabinet berths to make them agree to contest elections again. But other parties are also fully geared up for the electoral challenge.
The JD(S) has fielded former prime minister HD Deve Gowda's daughter-in-law Anitha Kumaraswamy in the Madhugiri constituency.
While Congress has roped in Gurucharan, the nephew of former chief minister SM Krishna. Both parties believe that six months into office BS Yeddyurappa government's performance is on trial.
"If out of eight, majority of seats go to opposition parties, it reflects on the administration of BJP," says Congress leader Mallikarjuna Kharge.
Power is the main issue in the by-elections, with the BJP struggling to win at least three of the eight Assembly seats.
And if that doesn't happen, not only will it be a huge embarrassment for the BJP government, it'll also reinforce the hold of the six independents on the stability of the government.
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