Former Prime Minister of India and the current National President Janata Dal (Secular), HD Deve Gowda on Saturday, put an end to all speculations leading to the coalition of JDS and Congress for the upcoming Karnataka bypolls scheduled on October 21. He said that, while being in an alliance with Congress, his son, former Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy, has suffered a lot and he will not repeat the same mistake again. The senior leader said that JDS will contest alone for the upcoming bypolls scheduled for next month.

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Bypolls in Karnataka for 15 seats

The state of Karnataka will witness bypolls for 15 Vidhan Sabha constituencies after 15 MLAs had resigned from their post as a rebel against the ruling state government in July this year. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had then formed government in the state with B.S. Yediyurappa as the Chief Minister of Karnataka. Along with Karnataka, 16 other states including, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Puducherry are set to witness by-elections on October 21. 

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CEC Arora announces bypolls schedule

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora, earlier today, announced the schedule for the bypolls and the entire list of vacant constituencies. The process of bypolls is set to begin on September 23 with the issue of notification and is expected to conclude by October 27. The final date of filing a candidature for the bypolls is September 30. Voting is scheduled for October 21 and the counting of votes will be done on October 24. CEC Arora in his press conference also announced the schedule for the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly Elections.