The Janata Dal (Secular) announced on Tuesday that it will not contest the election in Bengaluru’s Jayanagar Assembly constituency, scheduled for June 11.

In a statement, party President HD Deve Gowda announced that the Janata Dal (Secular) will instead support its alliance partner Congress. It has withdrawn its official candidate, Kalegowda, he added. The party said that all its workers will now campaign for Congress’ Sowmya Reddy.

Polling for this constituency was deferred after sitting MLA BN Vijaykumar died in Bengaluru a few days before the May 12 Assembly polls. The 59-year-old was the BJP candidate and had already represented the constituency twice. The party has now fielded his brother BN Prahlad.

The Assembly elections in the state threw up a hung verdict. The Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular), along with the Bahujan Samaj Party and two independents, have the support of 118 MLAs, while the Bharatiya Janata Party has the support of 104 legislators. Elections in two seats – Jayanagar and Rajarajeshwari Nagar – were deferred. The Congress won the Rajarajeshwari Nagar seat on May 30.

BJP’s BS Yeddyurappa was initially sworn in as the chief minister but resigned two days later as his party, despite being the largest, did not have the numbers to prove its majority. The Congress and the JD(S) forged a post-poll alliance to form the government, and JD(S) Karnataka chief HD Kumaraswamy took oath as the chief minister on May 23.