BJP releases first list of candidates for Karnataka polls

Senior party leader KS Eshwarappa will contest from Shivamogga constituency, where he finished in the third spot in 2013.

In the first list of 72 candidates for the May 12 Karnataka assembly elections announced by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi on Sunday, prominent were the names of the old guard and some who had joined the party just ahead of the polls.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (left) presents a momento to Karnataka state BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa during a gathering in Bangalore on February 4. (AFP file photo)

The party’s chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa will contest again from Shikaripur constituency. He had won the seat in 2013 on a ticket from Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP), which he had joined after falling out with the BJP.

Senior party leader KS Eshwarappa will contest from Shivamogga constituency, where he finished in the third spot in 2013.

B Sriramulu, a close aide of Gali Janardhana Reddy, one of the three Reddy brothers known as the mining barons of Ballari, has been given the ticket from Molkalmuru in Chitradurga and not in Ballari, where he had contested both in 2013 and 2008.

He is currently an MP from Ballari.

The BJP has also fielded a number of candidates who have switched parties over the past year.

Malikayya Guttedar and AS Patil Nadahalli, candidates from Afzalpur and Muddebihal respectively, moved to the party from the Congress, whereas Mallikarjun Khuba, Manappa Vajjal and Shivraj patil joined the BJP from the Janata Dal (Secular).