key candidate

The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded seasoned V Somanna from two seats - Varuna and Chamrajanagar. Somanna, the BJP's Lingayat strongman, will take on Congress's Siddaramaiah in the Varuna segment in the 2023 Karnataka assembly election. Neither Siddaramaiah nor Somanna had not contested from Varuna last time. Siddaramaiah had won from the constituency in 2008 and 2013, but opted to contest from Badami and Chamundeshwari in 2008, winning only in Badami. In the 2018 Karnataka poll, Somanna had won from Govindaraja Nagar, his pocketborough in Bengaluru city.