Congress releases list of 8 candidates for Karnataka by-elections

Congress has released a list of eight candidates on Thursday, October 31, for the upcoming by-polls in Karnataka which will be held on December 5. The candidates who will be contesting the by-polls are Bhimmanna Naik contesting from Yellapur, BH Bannikod from Hirekerur, KB Koliwad from Rannebennur, M Anjanappa from Chikkaballapur, M Narayanswamy from KR Pura, M Shivaraj from Mahalakshmi Layout, Padmavathi Suresh from Hoskote and HP Manjunath from Hunsur.  

"Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi approved the proposal for the candidature of the following persons as party candidates for the ensuing by-elections to the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka," party general secretary Mukul Wasnik said in a statement.

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By-polls shifted from October 21 to December 5

Earlier, the by-polls in Karnataka were scheduled to be held on October 21 in 15 constituencies that were vacated by rebel MLAs of Congress and Janata Dal-Secular [JD(S)]. However, the election date was later shifted to December 5 by the Election Commission (EC). Counting of votes will take place on December 9. 

The EC had informed the Supreme Court in September that it will defer the by-polls in 15 assembly seats in Karnataka as the hearing of the petitions challenging the disqualification of the rebel lawmakers remains pending in court.

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The 15 seats were vacated after the disqualification of the rebel Congress- JD(S) MLAs following their resignation from their respective parties. The then Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar had disqualified the 17 MLAs - 13 belonging to the Congress, three from the JDS, and one Independent, which eventually led to the fall of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government headed by the then chief minister HD Kumaraswamy in July. 

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The 15 assembly constituencies which will go to polls are Athani, Kagwad, Gokak, Yellapur, Hirekerur, Ranibennur, Vijayanagara, Chikkaballapur, K R Pura, Yeshvanthapura, Mahalakshmi, Shivajinagar, Hosakote, Krishnarajpet, and Hunsur. Polling will be conducted from 7 am to 6 pm on December 5, the EC had said.

(With ANI inputs)

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