The Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) have shifted their MLAs to resorts in Bengaluru to prevent cross-voting and absenteeism in the Karnataka Legislative Council elections for seven seats to be held on Thursday.

The Congress has fielded five candidates, the BJP two and the JDS one. Among the seven seats, three each are held by the Congress and the BJP, respectively, and one by the JDS.

Each candidate will need 28 first-preference votes to win.

Four Congress and two BJP candidates are likely to win, but an intense battle is underway for the final seat as the Congress is banking on second-preference votes to block the BJP-JDS alliance.

Senior JDS leader H.D. Kumaraswamy rubbished chief minister D.K. Shivakumar’s claim that his party tried to persuade Congress leaders to vote for their candidate.

“The JDS is not looking to win the seat by resorting to cheap tactics,” he said.

A Congress source said the MLAs would be brought to the Vidhan Soudha directly to cast their votes.