Siddaramaiah, JD(S) candidate file nomination papers

Mysore, Nov 16 (UNI) Former Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and Congress candidate Siddaramaiah, JD(S) candidate Shivabasappa and JD(U) candidate A S Guruswamy were among the 12 candidates who filed their papers on the last day of filing of nominations for the December four bypoll to Chamundeshwari Assembly segment here today.

With today's in all which was also the last day of filing o nomination, 18 candidates have filed their papers for the bypoll.

Besides the Congress, JD(S) and JD(U) nominees, the Samajwadi Party and Nationalist Congress Party have fielded their candidates, while all the others are independents.

Scrutiny of nomination papers would be taken up tomorrow, while the last date for withdrawal of nominations was November 20.

Mr Siddaramaiah filed his papers in the presence of KPCC President Mallikarjuna Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly N Dharam Singh after taking out a massive procession in the city in a show of strength.

Mr Shivabasappa, the consensus candidate of coalition partners JD(S) and BJP, was accompanied by JD(S) State President and Home Minister M P Prakash and BJP State President D V Sadananda Gowda.

In a surprise development, Mr Guruswamy, a member of JD(S) till this morning, filed his nomination papers as a JD(U) candidate, after he was denied ticket by his party. Incidentally, he had defeated Mr Siddaramaiah as a Congress candidate from this constituency in the 1999 elections.

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