Karnataka assembly elections: Congress party releases second list of 42 candidates

Congress party on Thursday released its second list of candidates for the 42 Assembly constituencies of Karnataka ahead of the elections which are scheduled to take place on May 10. Notably, the decision to finalise the candidates for the 2nd list was supposed to be concluded on Wednesday, however, confused over the seat distribution for the state assembly polls, the party extended its Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting on April 6.

According to sources, the delay in announcing the 2nd list of candidates for the Karnataka Assembly elections was due to the warring factions-- one led by KPCC chief DK Shivakumar and the other by former CM Siddaramaiah, lobbying seats in favour of their leaders. Also, it was expected that the party would release its 2nd list for remaining 100 consituencies as it had already announced candidates for 124 seats in its first list, released on March 25. However, the second list only features 42 candidates, indicating that consensus over the seat finalisation has not been achieved.

Congress releases 2nd list

In its second list, the party has fielded Baburai Chinchansur, who recently resigned from the BJP, from Gurmitkal constituency. Prasadraj Kachan has been given ticket from Udipi, Iqbal Ahmed from Tumkur City, B Shivram from Belur, Ravikumar from Mandya and Bheemaseb Chimmannakatti from Badami.

It is pertinent to mention that Congress has fielded ex-CM Siddaramaiah from his home seat of Varuna in the Mysuru district, in the first list. The party state unit chief DK Shivakumar from the Kanakapura seat. Notably, the Kanakapura is a stronghold of the Congress party as Shivakumar has been winning the seat since 2008. 

Meanwhile, party national president Mallikarjun Kharge's son Priyank Kharge will contest from Congress' ticket from the Chitapur constituency. In addition to this, BJP MLC Puttanna, who quit the saffron party, got the ticket from Rajajinagar.