Bengaluru, 18 June 

In the first electoral battle since the new government under Chief Minister DK Shivakumar took charge in Karnataka, the ruling Congress on Thursday won five of the seven Legislative Council seats that went to polls, while the opposition BJP won two, official sources said.

There are also reports of cross-voting from both BJP and JD(S) legislators, as Congress candidates got more votes than expected, sources said.

Eight candidates were in the fray for seven MLC seats to beelected by MLAs, for which voting was held at Vidhana Soudha here.

Five candidates fielded by the Congress - Thippannappa Kamknoor, P V Mohan, BK Hariprasad (KPCC president), Shivanna BS, and Vinay Karthik Prakash - have emerged victorious. Also, BJP's two candidates in the fray, Lingaraj Patil and Raghu R, have won.

While JD(S) ' lone candidate Govindaraju faced a defeat.

The polls were held as the terms of seven MLCs -- Congress leaders Naseer Ahmed, Tippannappa, and B K Hariprasad, BJP leaders N Nagaraju (MTB), Prathap Simha Nayak K, and Sunil Vallyapur; and Govindaraju of JD(S) are set to expire upon their retirement on 30 June.