Mysuru: With the by-election to Mandya, Shivamogga and Ballari (ST) Lok Sabha (LS) seats and Ramanagara and Jamkhandi Assembly seats scheduled to take place tomorrow (Nov. 3), political parties are making last ditch efforts to woo the voters by going on a door-to-door campaign today.

The public campaigning ended yesterday.

The bypoll to Mandya LS seat was caused by the resignation of C.S. Puttaraju (JD-S), who quit after getting elected from Melukote in the May 2018 Assembly polls while the bypoll for Shivamogga was necessitated by the resignation of State BJP Chief B.S. Yeddyurappa who was elected from Shikaripur and the bypoll for Ballari (ST) seat by the resignation of B. Sriramulu (BJP), who resigned after his election from Molakalmuru.

The bypoll for Ramanagara Assembly segment was caused by the resignation of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who chose to retain Channapatna after his election from both the Constituencies in the May 2018 polls, while the byelection to Jamkhandi in Bagalkot district was necessitated by the death of Congress MLA Siddu Nyamagowda, who was killed in a road mishap, a week after his election.

While the bypoll for the vacant Assembly segments were expected, the announcement of the bypolls for the three LS seats, with the General elections hardly about 5 months away, came as a shock to political leaders, who had least expected it. However, the Election Commission of India (ECI) sprang a surprise by announcing the Karnataka bypoll schedule on Oct.6, along with Assembly polls for five other States including Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

Following the announcement of the poll schedule, the ruling coalition partners in the State,  JD(S) and Congress, reached an understanding on sharing of seats, according to which Congress would contest Ballari LS and Jamkhandi Assembly seat, while the JD(S) would contest Mandya and Shivamogga LS seats and Ramanagara Assembly segment, vacated by H.D. Kumaraswamy.

The BJP fielded former MP J. Shantha for Ballari (ST), B.Y. Raghavendra, elder son of B.S. Yeddyurappa for Shivamogga and little known candidate Dr. Siddharamaiah, a former IRS officer, for Mandya LS seat.

The JD(S) fielded former MLA L.R. Shivaramegowda from Mandya LS seat, Madhu Bangarappa, son of former CM late S. Bangarappa from Shivamogga LS seat and Anitha Kumaraswamy, wife of H.D. Kumaraswamy from Ramanagara.

The Congress fielded former MLC V.S. Ugrappa from Ballari (ST) and Anand Nyama Gowda, son of late MLA Siddu Nyama Gowda for Jamkhandi.

The BJP fielded its veteran leader Srikanth Kulkarni from Jamkhandi and L. Chandrasekhar, son of Congress MLC C.M. Lingappa, from Ramanagara.

Chandrasekhar, who was with the Congress for years, defected to the BJP just 20 days ago and got the party ticket.

However, Chandrasekhar announced his retirement from the contest yesterday, which came as a rude shock to the BJP, which was hoping to snatch the seat, considered a JD(S) stronghold.

While the coalition is going all out to win all the five seats, the BJP is leaving no chances to win the seats, despite the party receiving a huge set back in Ramanagara.