Karnataka polls: Congress, BJP release final list of candidates

The other candidates announced were Mohammed Shalam from Raichur, S Anand Kumar from CV Raman Nagar, HP Sridhar Gowda from Arkalgud and Inayath Ali from Mangalore City North.

With this, the Congress has fielded candidates for all the 224 Assembly segments in the state.

Here's the sixth & final list of Congress candidates finalised by the CEC for the Karnataka assembly elections 2023. pic.twitter.com/HoK53ybdIr

— Congress (@INCIndia) April 20, 2023

Related: Siddaramaiah, Basavaraj Bommai, BY Vijayendra file nominations

BJP releases fourth list

The ruling BJP in Karnataka released its fourth list, naming candidates for the remaining two constituencies — Shivamogga and Manvi — late on Wednesday evening.

In Shivamogga, the party gave the ticket to Channabasappa, snubbing sitting MLA and senior BJP leader KS Eshwarappa’s family.

Eshwarappa, a former deputy chief minister, recently conveyed to the party’s central leadership his wish to retire from electoral politics and requested it not consider fielding him in the Assembly polls from Shivamogga.

The five-time MLA from the constituency, however, is said to have sought a ticket for his son KE Kantesh from the segment.

Senior BJP leader and MLC Ayanur Manjunath, who was also an aspirant from Shivamogga, quit the party earlier on Wednesday and joined the JD(S). He is now the JD(S) candidate from the Assembly segment.

From Manvi, an ST-reserved constituency, the party fielded BV Nayak.

ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ವಿಧಾನಸಭಾ ಚುನಾವಣೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ಪರ್ಧಿಸುವ ಪಕ್ಷದ ಅಭ್ಯರ್ಥಿಗಳ ನಾಲ್ಕನೇ ಹಾಗೂ ಅಂತಿಮ ಪಟ್ಟಿ.

ಹಳೆ ಬೇರು ಹೊಸ‌ ಚಿಗುರಿನ ಈ ಶಕ್ತಿ ಭವಿಷ್ಯದ ದಿಕ್ಸೂಚಿ‌. #BJPYeBharavase #DoubleEngineSarkara pic.twitter.com/6VLa19NiQf

— BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) April 19, 2023

Related: Karnataka should not lose out on blessings of PM Modi, says JP Nadda

The Congress list

The Congress on Wednesday night announced its fifth list of three candidates and had replaced the candidate against Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai in Shiggaon.

A day after fielding Mohammed Yousuf Savanur as its candidate from Shiggaon in the Haveri district, the party nominated Yasir Ahmed Khan Phatan in his place.

The party has fielded AC Srinivasa from Pulakeshinagar by denying a ticket to sitting MLA R Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy, who on Wednesday filed nomination as an independent candidate after it became clear that he would not be renominated.

Murthy, a Dalit, won the 2018 Assembly elections with the highest margin of 81,626 votes, creating a record.

His house, along with the DJ Halli Police Station, was torched by a violent mob in August 2020 over a social media post shared by his relative.

In Bengaluru’s KR Puram, the Congress has fielded DK Mohan against the BJP’s Byrathi Basavaraj, a minister in the Basavaraj Bommai government.

Interestingly, Byrathi Basavaraj won the seat on a Congress ticket in the 2018 Assembly polls. He was among the 17 Congress-JD(S) MLAs who resigned in 2019, which led to the collapse of the coalition government and paved the way for the BJP to come to power. In the subsequent bypolls, he won on a BJP ticket.

In Mulbagal, the party has fielded BC Muddugangadhar. In 2018, the seat was won by independent candidate H Nagesh, who is now the Congress candidate from the Mahadevapura segment in Bengaluru.

Scrutiny of nominations will take place on 21 April, and the last day for the withdrawal of candidature is 24 April.

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(With PTI inputs)