EC announces Dec 5 date for 15 by-polls in Karnataka, result on Dec 11

In a major development to the Karnataka by-polls, the Election Commission, on Friday, has announced that the election for the 15 seats will take place on December 5. The EC announced that the election's results will be declared on December 11. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has maintained that it will continue to hear the rebel MLAs' plea against their disqualification by Speaker Ramesh Kumar on October 22. The Election Commission also released the entire schedule of the by-polls.

Here is the entire schedule of the Karnataka by-polls:

• Last date of nomination - 18 November 2019
• Scrutiny of nominations - 19 November 2019
• Last date of withdrawal of nomination -  21 November 2019
• Polling date - 5 December 2019
• Conclusion of polls - 11 December 2019

The constituencies which will go to polls on December 5 are - Athani, Kagwad, Gokak, Yellapur, Hirekerur, Ranibennur, Vijayanagar, Chikkaballapur, K.R. Pura, Yeshvanthapura, Mahalakshmi Layout, Shivajinagar, Hosakote, Krishnarajpet and Hunsur.

READ | Congress hails EC's decision to defer Karnataka by-polls of 15 seats

EC tells SC it will defer by-polls

Earlier on Wednesday, the Election Commission told the Supreme Court that it would defer the upcoming by-polls of 15 Assembly constituencies in Karnataka, whose MLAs were disqualified earlier. The Supreme Court is currently hearing the plea by the rebel MLAs challenging the order of former Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar disqualifying them from the House. The EC had opposed the plea of disqualified MLAs to stay the elections till the SC verdict on their petitioning challenging former speaker’s actions. Meanwhile, the apex court will continue to hear the case on October 22. Both rebel MLAs and Congress have stated that they have no objections to the deferring of polls.

READ | EC to SC: Bypolls to seats of 15 disqualified Karnataka MLAs may defer

Karnataka Assembly and the by-polls

The halfway mark in Karnataka assembly is 112 and in a truncated assembly, BJP had won the trust vote comfortably as the magic number was 105.BJP legislators, with the support of an independent MLA, had sailed smoothly. In the upcoming by-polls, BJP will have to win at least 8 of the 15 seats to retain their government in the state. The opposition parties, Congress and JDS, which had formed the previous government together have decided to fight the by-elections separately, without a pre-poll alliance with each other. With the wafer-thin majority of the current BJP government, the bypolls can be the decider.

READ: Karnataka drama to re-ignite; bypolls scheduled in 15 vacant seats

READ: Karnataka: EC opposes disqualified MLAs plea in Supreme Court