Assembly polls: Congress releases first list of 124 candidates

Siddu from Varuna, D.K. Shivakumar from Kanakapura, Darshan Dhruvanarayan from Nanjangud, Tanveer Sait from Narasimharaja, Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa from T. Narasipur, A.S. Ponnanna from Virajpet and H.M. Ganesh Prasad from Gundlupet

Mysore/Mysuru: Congress party’s Central Election Committee (CEC) has released the first list of 124 candidates against the total 224 Constituencies this morning, for the forthcoming elections to the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka, most probably to be held in May, with almost all of the party’s sitting MLAs including KPCC President D. K. Shivakumar (Kanakapura) and Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly Siddharamaiah (Varuna), defeated candidates in the previous elections held in 2018, including in Mysuru district, getting the ticket,  according to the list signed by Mukul Wasnik, General Secretary, Incharge of CEC.

With this, the grand-old party has readied its field for the electoral battle ahead, and the prominent rival parties — ruling BJP and JD(S) — are yet to release the list.

Of the total 11 Assembly Constituencies in Mysuru district, Congress candidates have been announced for eight Constituencies including that of Siddharamaiah from Varuna, former Minister and sitting MLA Tanveer Sait from Narasimharaja Assembly Constituency and other sitting MLAs — C. Anil Kumar (Anil Chikkamadu) from H. D. Kote (ST Reserve) and H.P. Manjunath from Hunsur, and former Minister Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa from T. Narasipur (SC Reserve), former MLA K. Venkatesh from Periyapatna, D. Ravishankar from K. R. Nagar and Darshan Dhruvanarayan from Nanjangud (SC Reserve).

The candidates for three other Constituencies in the district —Chamundeshwari, Krishnaraja and Chamaraja Assembly — have not been announced in the list, mostly due to the multiple aspirants lobbying hard for ticket in these Constituencies.

Following the release of the list, speculations over the Constituency from where Siddharamaiah, the sitting MLA of Badami in Bagalkot district, will contest the election, have been put to rest, with the former CM being fielded from Varuna Constituency, which is currently being represented by his son Dr. Yathindra Siddharamaiah.

Siddharamaiah himself had told the media yesterday that he has apprised the party High Command over the decision taken in consultation with his family members over fighting election from Varuna (from where he had won twice in 2008 and 2013 Assembly elections and also became the Chief Minister of the State from 2013 to 2018). Even Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had recently told Siddharamaiah to contest from Varuna, considered a safe seat, instead of Kolar, where he (Siddharamaiah) was planning to fight the election this time.

Till last minute, Tanveer Sait claimed to have been convincing the High Command to field Siddharamaiah from Narasimharaja. Recently, he (Sait) had also announced his decision not to contest the polls, citing health reasons, that did not go down well with his supporters, with two among them attempting suicide.

Darshan, the Nanjangud candidate, is the son of KPCC Working President late R. Dhruvanarayan, who died of heart attack on Mar.11 in the city.

D. Ravishankar, a ZP member, had unsuccessfully contested the previous election from K.R. Nagar and K. Venkatesh had lost to JD(S) in Periyapatna. Both have been fielded again.

Surprisingly, Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa has been fielded again from T. Narasipur (SC Reserve), for which his son Sunil Bose had emerged as a front-runner in the recent days. Dr. Mahadevappa had failed to retain T. Narasipur seat in the previous elections held in 2018, as he had lost to JD(S).

In Kodagu, of the only two Assembly Constituencies, A.S. Ponnanna, the former Additional Advocate General of Government of Karnataka, has been fielded from Virajpet Constituency. The candidate for Madikeri seat is yet to be announced.

In Chamarajanagar district, barring Kollegal (SC Reserve) Constituency, the candidates have been announced for other three remaining Constituencies. Former Minister late H. S. Mahadevaprasad’s son H.M. Ganesh Prasad is the nominee from Gundlupet, sitting MLA and former Minister C. Puttaranga Shetty from Chamarajanagar and another sitting MLA R. Narendra from Hanur.

Mandya district

Of the total seven Assembly Constituencies in Mandya district, candidates have been announced for Srirangapatna – A. B. Ramesh Bandisiddegowda, Malavalli (SC Reserve) – P. M. Narendraswamy and Nagamangala – N. Cheluvarayaswamy. The candidates for remaining Constituencies — Mandya, Maddur, K.R. Pet and Melukote — are yet to be announced.