Bengaluru: Making a head-start for the Assembly polls, which is just a couple of months away, the JD(S) yesterday announced the first list of party candidates for 93 Assembly constituencies of the State.

In a ‘son rise’ for the party, the JD(S) declared the candidature of Nikhil Kumaraswamy, son of former Chief Minister and JD(S) Legislature Party Leader H.D. Kumaraswamy (HDK), from Ramanagar, which seat is currently held by Nikhil’s mother Anitha Kumaraswamy. Likewise, G.D. Harish Gowda, son of Chamundeshwari sitting MLA G.T. Devegowda (GTD), has been chosen by the party to contest from Hunsur, while C.M. Fayaz, son of State JD(S) President C.M. Ibrahim, will contest from Humnabad constituency in Bidar district. HDK will contest again from Channapatna seat, which he currently represents.

As far as Mysuru district is concerned, the party has retained sitting MLAs S.R. Mahesh in K.R. Nagar, K. Mahadev in Periyapatna, GTD in Chamundeshwari and  M. Ashwin Kumar in T. Narasipur.

Ex-Corporator K.V. Mallesh has been chosen to contest from KR Assembly segment in Mysuru city and  Abhishek Manegar from Varuna, while the party is yet to announce the name of its candidates for Chamaraja, Narasimharaja, Nanjangud and H.D. Kote Assembly constituencies in the district.

In Mandya district, the party has retained the sitting MLAs — M. Srinivas in Mandya, C.S. Puttaraju in Melukote, Dr. K. Annadani in Malavalli, Suresh Gowda in Nagamangala, Ravindra Srikantaiah in Srirangapatna and D.C. Thammanna in Maddur. In K.R. Pet, the party has picked H.T. Manjunath, who is contesting for the first time and is likely to take on Sports Minister K.C. Narayangowda, who defected to the BJP after having won on a JD(S) ticket in the 2018 Assembly polls.

In respect of  Chamarajanagar, the party has announced the name of only one candidate — Manjunath, who will contest from Hanur, while the names of party candidates for three other seats in the district is yet to be announced. However, it is surprising to note that the JD(S) has not declared the names of party candidates from any seat in Hassan district, which is considered as a stronghold of the party for decades.