The Congress has 29 seats, the BJP has 35, and the JD(S) has eight in the Karnataka Legislative Council. One seat is held by an independent.
File photo of Mallikarjun Kharge. (Twitter)
The Congress on Sunday, 29 October, announced five candidates for the graduate and teacher constituencies of the Karnataka Legislative Council elections.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge has approved five prominent names to represent the party in the forthcoming Legislative Council electoral battle, party General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal said.
The announcement comes in the wake of retirements and resignations that have left key positions in the Legislative Council vacant.
As the election fervour intensifies, parties are gearing up for a showdown, with the Congress nominating candidates who have joined the party from other organisations.
In the previous elections to the six segments, the BJP won in three, followed by JD(S) in two, and the Congress winning one seat.
With the Congress in power in the state, its leaders exuded confidence of sweeping the elections. However, the party is yet to announce its candidate for the South Teachers constituency, represented by JD(S)’s Maritibbe Gowda.
Meanwhile, the BJP is yet to finalise its candidates for these six constituencies. The election dates have not been announced.
In the Karnataka Legislative Council, the Congress has 29 seats, BJP has 35 seats, JD(S) has eight seats, and there is one independent.
Ramoji Gowda, Puttanna, KK Manjunath, DT Srinivas, and Dr Chandrasekhar Patil are the candidates the party announced on Sunday.
The Congress President, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, has approved the following persons as party candidates for the forthcoming biennial elections to the Karnataka Legislative Council from the Graduates’/Teachers’ Constituencies: pic.twitter.com/YZuAXGaJLl
— INC Sandesh (@INCSandesh) October 29, 2023
Ramoji Gowda will contest from the Bangalore Graduate Constituency. Manjunath is the candidate in the South West Teachers constituency, which Srinivas will contest from the South East Teachers’ constituency, and incumbent MLC Dr Chandrasekhar Patil will represent the Congress in the North East Graduates constituency.
The Congress has nominated candidates with diverse electoral histories. Puttanna, who had previously contested as a BJP candidate and later joined the Congress, has renominated to the same teacher’s seat he had vacated.
Srinivas, who left the BJP along with his wife, former Hiriyur MLA Poornima Srinivas, had earlier unsuccessfully contested from the South East Teachers constituency as a rebel candidate.
“We are confident of winning all the seats. The ticket for DT Srinivas was assured even before his spouse Poornima Srinivas joined the Congress. The party high command took consent of all the party leaders and workers before nominating them,” KPCC working president BN Chandrappa told South First.
“The candidates have been finalised after detailed discussions. We have higher chances than the opposition because the party has registered a stellar victory in the Assembly elections and also implemented the four guarantees,” he added.
Recent retirements and resignations necessitated the elections.
Congress’s Dr Chandrasekhara Patil from the North East Graduate Constituency, BJP’s A Devegowda from the Bangalore Graduate Constituency, Dr YA Narayana Swamy from the South East Teachers Constituency, and SL Bhojegowda from the South West Teachers Constituency will vacate their positions on 21 June 2024.
JD(S)’s MLC Maritibbe Gowda will also retire from the teachers’ South constituency on 21 June 2024.
The South West Graduates’ constituency has been vacant since 19 April following the resignation of Ayanur Manjunath, which would have otherwise fallen vacant on 21 June next year.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued instructions for preparing the voters’ lists, marking the beginning of the electoral process.
The registration of voters commenced on 30 September. The last date for registration is 6 November.
The draft list of voters will be published by 20 November. Objections could be filed 23 November to 9 December. The resolution of objections is scheduled for 25 December, and the final voter list will be published on 30 December.
The BJP said it will announce its candidates soon.
“The state party leadership recently met and deliberated on the probable candidates to contest from these six segments. Deliberations are still on,” BJP state general secretary and MLC N Ravikumar told South First.
“The core committee will tour all these segments and submit a report. Based on the report and discussing with the high command the candidates will be finalised. We are confident of winning all the seats as people are upset with Congress’s government,” he added.
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