Mysuru:  After 15th Assembly elections, the focus has now shifted to the Biennial election to the Karnataka Legislative Council from Graduates’ and Teachers’ constituencies. The elections will be held on June 8 from 8 am to 4 pm and the counting will be held on June 12.

Yesterday was the last day for withdrawing the nominations. The candidates began their campaigning from today.

Two candidates who withdrew their nominations yesterday include South Teachers’ Constituency Independent candidate H.M. Leena Shruti and South West Teachers’ Constituency candidate H.N. Devaraj.

Now there are a total of 29 candidates left in the fray in all the three constituencies.

South Teachers’ Constituency: There are nine candidates in the fray in the constituency that includes Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajanagar and Hassan districts. BJP candidate B. Niranjan Murthy, JD(S) candidate and present MLC Marithibbegowda, Congress candidate M. Lakshman, Independents A.H. Gopalkrishna, Bhadravathi’s D.K. Tulasappa, Mysuru’s Dr. S.B.M. Prasanna, Dr. Mahadev, Bengaluru’s M.N. Ravishankar and P.V. Sharatraj are contesting.

South West Graduates’ Constituency: There are eight candidates in the fray in the Constituency that includes Chikmagalur, Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Shivamogga districts and Honnali & Channagiri taluk of Davangere district.

JD(S) candidate Udupi’s Arunkumar, BJP’s former MLA Ayanur Manjunath, Congress candidate Shivamogga’s S.P. Dinesh, Sarva Janata Party’s G.C. Patel, Independents Shivamogga’s Zafrulla Sattar Khan, Chikmagalur’s G.M. Jayakumar, Tarikere’s B.R. Prabhulinga and Bhadravathi’s B.K. Manjunath are in the fray.

South West Teachers’ Constituency: This is the constituency where the highest number of candidates are contesting with 12 in fray — BJP candidate and current MLC Captain Ganesh Karnik, JD(S) candidate S.L. Bhojegowda, Congress’ K.K. Manjunath Kumar, Independents Konandur’s Dr. Arun Hosakoppa, Aloysius D’Souza, Shivamogga’s K.B. Chandroji Rao, Bhadravathi’s D.K. Tulasappa, Kundapura’s Amparu Nityananda Shetty, Tarikere’s B.R. Prabhulinga, Shivamogga’s K.C. Basavarajappa, Bhadravathi’s M. Ramesh and Manguluru’s K.P. Rajendrakumar.