Ashish Ranjan
Karnataka election: D K Shivakumar, president of the Congress state unit in Karnataka, and Siddaramaiah, leader of the Legislature Party and a potential candidate for chief minister if the party wins power in Karnataka, are among the prominent leaders whose names appear on the first list of candidates for the May Karnataka election, which was released on Saturday.
Siddaramaiah is returning to his home turf of Varuna in the Mysuru district, which is presently represented by his son, Dr. Yathindra Siddaramaiah, while Shivakumar continues to run from Kanakapura. Yathindra does not appear in any other category on the initial roster of 124 candidates.
Siddaramaiah, who presently represents Badami in Bagalkote district, had previously announced that he would be running from Kolar, but changed his mind after party leadership reportedly warned him about the “risks” of running from that location. On Friday, while affirming his candidacy from Varuna, the former chief minister indicated his intention to contest from two seats; however, the second seat was not included in the initial list of candidates.
The candidates for the two seats that Siddaramaiah appears to have targeted, Kolar and Badami, have not been announced. The principal opposition party in the current Assembly, which seeks to oust the BJP from power, has announced candidates for 124 seats. There are yet to be finalized names for exactly 100 additional seats. There are a total of 224 Assembly constituencies in Karnataka. Congress has set a goal of capturing at least 150 of the 224 seats in the House of Representatives.
In the coming days, the Election Commission of India is anticipated to announce the election schedule. The majority of the districts on the first list are held by incumbent MLAs and constituencies for which the state unit recommended a single candidate.
Intriguingly, veteran Congress leader K H Muniyappa, the seven-time MP and former Union Minister, has returned to state politics and has been fielded by the party from Devanahalli, while his daughter and the incumbent MLA from KGF, Roopakala M, has received the nomination from the same constituency. Shamanur Shivashankarappa, a 91-year-old veteran representative, has been re-elected from Davanagere South, as has his son, S S Mallikarjun, from Davanagere North.
Among senior party leaders who have got the tickets include G Parameshwara-Koratagere, R V Deshpande – Haliyal, H K Patil – Gadag, M B Batil (campaign committee chief) – Babaleswar, Priyank Kharge (AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge’s son) – Chitapur, K R Rameshkumar (former Speaker) – Srinivaspur, Eshwar Khandre (Working President) – Bhalki, Satish Laxmanrao Jarkiholi (Working President) – Yemkanmardi, K J George – Sarvagnanagar, Dinesh Gundu Rao – Gandhi Nagar.
On the first roster are eight Muslim candidates. They are – U. T. Abdul Khader Ali Fareed (Mangalore), Tanveer Sait (Narasimharaja), N.A. Haris (Shanti Nagar), Rizwan Arshad (Shivajinagar), Rahim Khan (Bidar), Iqbal Hussain H A (Ramanagaram), B. Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan (Chamrajpet), and Kaneez Fatima (Gulbarga Uttar).
Also Read | Karnataka assembly elections: Congress announces first list of 124 candidates
Six women have made it to the first list – Kaneez Fatima, Laxmi Ravindra Hebbalkar (Belgaum Rural), Dr. Anjali Nimbalkar (Khanapur), Roopakala M (KGF), Kusuma H (Rajarajeshwarinagar), Sowmya R (Jayanagar). Intriguingly, the Congress has not finalized a candidate for Channapatna, where former Chief Minister and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy is running, or Shiggaavi, where BJP is likely to field incumbent Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
