Bengaluru: Five candidates, including three from the ruling Congress and one each from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) filed nominations for the biennial election to four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka, an EC official said on Monday.

"Of the five candidates, four have filed nominations on the last date (Monday), including three from the Congress and one from the BJP, while JD-S candidate B.M. Farooq had filed nomination on March 9," the Election Commission (EC) official said.

The Congress candidates are L. Hanumanthaiah, G.C. Chandrasekhar and Syed Naseer Hussain, and BJP candidate is Rajeev Chandrashekar, who is seeking a second term, as his first term as an Independent member ends on April 2.

The election has been necessitated to fill the vacancies arising out of retirement of incumbent members Basawaraj Patil, Rahman Khan and R. Ramakrishna of the Congress, and Chandrasekhar.

In the 225-member state legislative assembly, including one nominated, the Congress has 122 legislators, BJP 48 and JD-S 37. Of all, 7 seats are vacant.

As each candidate needs 45 votes to win the contest, the Congress is in a position to get two of its nominees elected easily, while its third candidate with 37 votes will have to get 13 more votes to make up for the shortfall.

With Chandrashekar assured of victory by virtue of the BJP having 48 votes, the contest will be for the fourth seat between the Congress and the JD-S, whose strength got reduced to 37 after three of its members were suspended for revolting against its leadership.

The JD-S also fears cross-voting by some of its members in favour of the ruling Congress' third nominee.

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Jhajjar (PTI): A chartered accountant has been arrested for allegedly killing his pregnant wife by slitting her throat with a pair of scissors and trying to pass it off as a robbery attempt, police said on Wednesday.

According to police, Anshul Dhawan (31) got married to Mehak (27) in September last year. Both worked in Gurugram.

Police received a call on Sunday night reporting that some unidentified people tried to rob Anshul, took his car and kidnapped his wife, SHO Badli, Inspector Suresh said.

When police reached the spot, they found the woman's body near a dry canal with injury marks on her neck, he said.

Suspecting inconsistencies in Anshul's version of events, police took him into custody for interrogation. He confessed that he had killed Mehak with a pair of scissors, wearing gloves, over suspicions about her character, SHO said.

"During his questioning, it came to light that he had pre-planned the murder. His wife worked in a private bank in Gurugram. He had doubts that she talked to her friends, and he did not like it," SHO added. Following the confession, Anshul was arrested on Monday.

Further investigation into the matter is underway, police said.

Mehak's sister, Shruti, told the reporters that the family had doubts that Anshul was involved in the murder. She said, "We want justice; the killer should be hanged. He did not even think that his wife was two months pregnant."

She said on February 15, Anshul came to their house and stayed only for ten minutes and left with Mehal for Gurugram.

Shruti alleged that Anshul had pre-planned the murder.