10 candidates in fray for RS elections in K'taka

Bangalore, Mar 17 (UNI) Jnanpeeth awardee U R Ananthamurthy is among the ten candidates in the fray for the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha to be held here on March 28.

Backed by the All India Progressive Janata Dal and independents, Mr Ananthamurthy filed his paper on the last day for filing of nominations today.

Though Mr Rajeev Chandrashekhar had already filed his nominations yesterday as a JD (S) candidate, he filed another set of papers today with the support of the ruling coalition partner BJP. Besides four independents--B C Mallappa, M Munireddy, Harischandragowda and Shashikumar--also filed their papers today.

Mr Rehman Khan (Congress), Mr Rajasekhara Murthy (JD-S), K B Shanappa (BJP) and T Sudhakar (Ind) had already filed their nominations for the four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka.

The seats fell vacant following the terms of Mr Rehman Khan, Bimba Raikar and K B Krishnamurthy (all Congress) and M Rajashekhara Murthy (JD-S) coming to an end.

UNI SIV RG RKN1712