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Karnataka polls: Congress’ releases first list of candidates


Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Mar 25, 2023: The Congress has announced the names of 124 candidates for the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections, scheduled to be held in May. Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will contest from Varuna and Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar will contest from Kanakapura constituency.

 

Congress


Priyank Kharge, son of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, will contest from Chitapur. MB Patil and Dinesh Gundurao have been given tickets from Babaleswar and Gandhinagar constituencies, respectively. The party has dropped sitting MLA Venkataramanappa and has given a ticket to a new candidate.


Congress

 

Congress

 

Congress

 

Congress

 

BJP MLC Puttanna, who quit the party, got the ticket from Rajajinagar and former Union Minister KH Muniyappa will contest from Devanahalli seat.

Varuna in Mysuru is currently represented by Siddaramaiah’s son Yathindra Siddaramaiah. Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah currently represents Badami segment of Bagalkote district in the northern part of the state. DK Shivakaumar is already a sitting MLA from Kanakapura.

He had almost made up his mind to contest from Kolar. As Kolar was one of the constituencies on his radar, Siddaramaiah had been preparing the ground for the last few months. In his formal application to the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) in February, Siddaramaiah had mentioned Badami, Varuna and Kolar as the three constituencies from which he would choose.

Earlier, Siddaramaiah indicated that he may contest the assembly elections from his erstwhile home constituency of Varuna. His indecision over finalising a seat is said to have delayed the party’s announcement of the first list of candidates. In 2018, he lost from Chamundeshwari in Mysuru, although he won from Badami in Bagalkot.

The Election Commission is expected to announce the poll schedule for assembly elections, due by May, in the next few days.

The Congress had announced three poll ’guarantees’ -- 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti), Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi) and 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya). Recently, Rahul Gandhi announced the ’Yuva Nidhi’ scheme in Karnataka’s Belagavi, that offers a monthly allowance to unemployed youth in Karnataka.