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Cong, BJP announce names for MLC polls
Congress has named Basanagouda Badarli as its candidate for an imminent MLC byelection though the election date for this seat has not been announced
The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday announced their list of candidates for the upcoming biennial Member of Legislative Council (MLC) elections scheduled for June 13.
The candidates announced by the Congress includes high-profile names such as Karnataka science and technology minister N S Boseraju and chief minister Siddaramaiah’s son Yathindra Siddaramaiah, Siddaramaiah’s political secretary K Govindaraj, former MLC Ivan D’Souza, former state minorities commission chairperson Balkees Banu and party’s Kalaburagi district president Jagdev Guttedar.
Besides, the party has named Basanagouda Badarli as its candidate for an imminent MLC byelection though the election date for this seat has not been announced. This seat was vacated following the resignation of former chief minister Jagadish Shettar, who briefly joined the Congress after quitting the BJP when he was denied a ticket in the 2023 assembly election.
After losing the assembly election on a Congress ticket in 2023, Shettar returned to the BJP and is now contesting the Lok Sabha election from Belgaum (Belagavi) constituency against Congress’s Mrinal Hebbalkar, son of state women and child development minister Laxmi Hebbalkar.
For the seven seats in MLAc elections, more than 300 Congress leaders and workers had applied, state president DK Shivakumar said recently.
The party’s state unit shortlisted 30-35 strong contenders and the high command finalised the list following a meeting with Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar last week.
Meanwhile, the BJP has named former minister CT Ravi, sitting MLC N Ravikumar, and party leader MG Muley as their candidates for the MLC elections.
The Janata Dal (Seular) is expected to reveal its candidate on Monday.
The allocation of MLC seats is influenced by the current composition of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.
With 133 MLAs, the Congress is positioned to field seven candidates, while the BJP-JD(S) alliance, with a combined strength of 85 MLAs (BJP with 66 and JD(S) with 19), can nominate four candidates. The Congress also claims the support of four additional MLAs, including two independents.
Additionally, elections to six legislative council seats, which cover three graduates’ and three teachers’ constituencies, will take place on June 3, with vote counting on June 6. These seats are currently vacant following the retirement of six members.
The graduates’ constituencies and teachers’ constituencies have a voter base of 3.63 lakh and 70,260, respectively.
The Election Commission has set up 170 polling stations for teachers’ constituencies and 461 for graduates’ constituencies.
For these seats, the Congress has nominated Marithibba Gowda (South Teachers Constituency), KK Manjunath (South-West Teachers), Ayanur Manjunath (South-West Graduates), Chandrashekhar Patil (North-East Graduates), Ramoji Gowda (Bangalore Graduates), and DT Srinivas (South-East Teachers).
The BJP and JD(S) have allied for these elections, with the BJP fielding candidates in four constituencies: Amarnath Patil (North-East Graduates), Dhananjay Sarji (South-West Graduates), A Devegowda (Bangalore Graduates), and YA Narayanaswamy (South-East Teachers). JD(S) will contest in two constituencies, represented by K Vivekananda (South Teachers) and Bhoje Gowda (South-West Teachers).
