Mysuru, Apr.28- Friday, the last day for withdrawal of nominations, saw a total of 97 candidates withdrawing their nomination papers in dive districts of Mysuru region — Mysuru, Kodagu, Hassan, Mandya and Chamarajanagar. With the deadline for nomination withdrawal ending yesterday, a total of 344 candidates remain in fray from the fine districts.

In Mysuru district, 36 candidates withdrew their nomination in 11 Assembly Constituencies, leaving a total of 147 in the fray, who include Chief Minister Siddharamaiah, his opponent in Chamundeshwari, G.T. Devegowda, the CM’s son Dr. Yathindra in Varuna, PWD Minister Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa in T. Narasipur and Minister Tanveer Sait in Narasimharaja. In Kodagu, seven candidates withdraw their nomination in the two Assembly Constituencies of the district.

Chamarajanagar, which has four Assembly segments, saw the withdrawal of six candidates, leaving 43 candidates in the fray including District Minister Dr. Geetha Mahadevaprasad and Kannada Chaluvali leader Vatal Nagaraj.

In Mandya, a total of 84 candidates are in the fray in seven Assembly Constituencies of the district, after 29 candidates withdrew their nomination.

In Hassan, a total of 53 candidates are in the fray in seven Assembly segments of the district, after 19 candidates withdrew their nomination yesterday.

In Mysuru district, Varuna Constituency has the highest number of contestants, with 23 candidates in the fray, while H.D. Kote has the lowest number of candidates with seven.

In Varuna, CM Siddharamaiah’s son Dr. Yathindra is contesting as the Congress candidate, while Thotadappa Basavaraj is the BJP candidate and Abhishek S. Manegar is the JD(S) candidate. H.D. Kote which has the lowest number of candidates, is witnessing a triangular contest between Anil Chikkamdau of the Congress, former MLC Siddaraju of the BJP and former MLA Chikkanna of the JD(S).

In Chamundeshwari Constituency, where Chief Minister Siddharamaiah is contesting   as the Congress candidate, there are 15 candidates left in the fray. Sitting MLA G.T. Devegowda is the JD(S) candidate and S.R. Gopal Rao is contesting from the BJP here.

In Krishnaraja Assembly segment of the city, there are 19 candidates left in the fray. While sitting MLA M.K. Somashekar is the Congress candidate, MCC Corporator K.V. Mallesh is the JD(S) candidate and former Minister S.A. Ramdas is the BJP candidate.

In Narasimharaja (NR) Assembly Constituency of the city, there are 15 candidates in the fray. Minister Tanveer Sait is the Congress candidate, While former Minister S. Satheesh (Sandesh Swamy) is contesting as BJP candidate, Abdul Aziz (Abdulla) is JD(S) candidate, K.H. Abdul Majeed is Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) candidate and former Corporator B.M. Nataraj, who quit the BJP after being denied the ticket, is contesting on a Samajwadi Party (SP) ticket.

In Chamaraja Assembly Constituency of the city, 14 candidates are left in the fray. Sitting MLA Vasu is the Congress candidate, while former MUDA Chairman L. Nagendra is the BJP candidate and former Mysore Varsity and KSOU Vice-Chancellor Prof. K.S. Rangappa is the JD(S) candidate. K. Harish Gowda, who was a keen aspirant for the JD(S) ticket, is contesting as an Independent candidate after the party denied him the ticket. In T. Narasipur (SC), where District Minister Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa is contesting as the Congress candidate, there are 10 candidates left in the fray. S. Shankar is the BJP candidate and M. Ashwin Kumar is the JD(S) candidate here.

In Nanjangud (SC) Assembly segment, 10 candidates are in the fray. Sitting MLA Kalale Keshvamurthy is the Congress candidate, while B. Harshavardhan, son-in-law of senior Dalit leader and former Minister V. Sreenivasa Prasad, is the BJP candidate and ZP Member H.S. Dayananda Murthy is the JD(S) candidate. In Periyapatna too, 10 candidates are left in the fray. Sitting MLA and former Minister K. Venkatesh is the Congress candidate, while the JD(S) has again fielded K. Mahadev, who lost by a narrow margin in two previous Assembly polls, the BJP has fielded new comer                                      S. Manjunath.

In Hunsur, there are 15 candidates left in the fray. Sitting MLA H.P. Manjunath is contesting again as the Congress candidate, while the JD(S) has fielded senior leader and former Minister A.H. Vishwanth. J.S. Ramesh Kumar is the BJP candidate here.

In K.R. Nagar, nine candidates are left in the fray. Sitting MLA S.R. Mahesh is the JD(S) candidate. The Congress has fielded ZP Member D. Ravishankar as its candidate, while the BJP has  given the party ticket to a new face Shwetha Gopal.

With this, the district is left with 147 candidates contesting from 11 Assembly Constituencies.