In its second list for the upcoming assembly elections in Karnataka, the party has given tickets to over 20 new faces and three defectors who had left the BJP and JDS.
To date, the Congress has announced two lists – the first on 25 March, with 124 candidates announced, and the second list announced on 6 April, with 42 candidates. According to party sources, the total number of seats now stands at 166, while candidates for the remaining 58 seats will be out of the third list.
Sources said the Congress had names of two candidates each for the remaining 58 seats. senior leader Rahul Gandhi He said the party’s Central Election Committee was asked to reduce one person for each seat in the next 24 to 48 hours. In both the lists, the party has retained 60 of its 69 sitting MLAs.
Senior Congress leader Priyank Kharge said, “There are some seats where the decision on the name of the candidate should be taken carefully keeping in mind the caste matrix, popularity of the candidate and winnability of the candidate.” News18,
Former BJP MLC from Gurumitkal Baburao Chinchansur, former BJP MLA from Kudaligi NY Gopal Krishna and expelled JD(S) MLA SR Srinivas have been given tickets from Gurumitkal, Molakalmuru and Gubbi constituencies.
Chinchansur was seen playing a key role in campaigning against Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, leading to his defeat. Popular among local residents, Gopalakrishna was with the Congress and held the Molakalmuru seat from 1997 to 2013. He lost to Thippeswamy, who had contested the 2013 election from B. Sriramulu’s BSR party, following which he joined the BJP when he was denied a Congress ticket. 2018 elections. He won from Kudligi assembly constituency. This time, he will once again contest from Molakalamuru, represented by Sriramulu, who is a minister and is expected to get a ticket from Ballari Rural.
The second list has over 20 new faces, including one contesting from Chamundeshwari seat, from where Siddaramaiah has contested eight times and won five times. This ticket will replace Mahantesh Kadadi for Gokak, Basavaraj V Sivagangai for Channagiri, Prasadraj Kanchan for Udupi, Iqbal Ahmed for Tumakuru City, Balraj Gowda for Yeshwatpura, Keshav Rajanna B for Yelahanka, Keshav Murthy for Mahalakshmi with a new Praveshi has gone to Siddegowda. BL Devaraja for Layout and Krishnarajpet, V Raghunath Naidu for Pamanbha Nagar.
The name of former MLC and former CM Dharam Singh’s son Vijay Dharam Singh has come to the fore from Basavakalyan. His brother Ajay Dharam Singh is a sitting MLA from the Jewargi constituency, which was represented by his father.
YSV Dutta, one of the first senior JD(S) leaders to switch to the Congress, was denied a ticket for the Kadur assembly seat. Dutta had won on a JD(S) ticket in 2013, but lost to BJP’s Belli Prakash in 2018. The Kadur ticket has gone to Anand KS, a close aide of state unit chief DK Shivakumar.
Congress has supported Darshan Puttannaiah, son of popular farmer leader KS Puttannaiah from Melukote seat. He is contesting as a candidate of Sarvodaya Karnataka Party. The American-educated leader joined politics in February 2018 after his father’s death and secured 74,000 votes in Melukote in the 2018 elections as a Swaraj India Party candidate.
Caste Matrix at a glance
The two lists have tried to balance the caste matrix – Lingayats on 41 seats; Vokkaliga 35, SC Wright and Valmiki community 12 each; Muslims on 11 seats; Kuruba at eight; SC Left and Ediga communities on seven seats each; Brahmins on five seats; SC Lambani, Besta Koli Mogaveera and Maratha on four seats each; SC Bowie and Bunts on three seats each; Rajput and Reddy on two seats each; And one seat each for Christian, Jain, Naidu, Kodav, Uppara, Vaish etc.
Kharge said the delay in releasing the list was not because of confusion, but because of “the number of good candidates in each constituency making it a difficult decision to finalize the names”.
“It is heartening to see that we got 1,800 applications for 224 seats. This only goes to show the enormous faith the people have in the party to return it to power and bring good governance,” he said.
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