Congress opposed to two seat contests by Siddaramaiah, Parameshwar

The Congress high command is said to have put the brakes on candidates who want to contest from two constituencies in the Karnataka assembly elections. This would mean that both Siddaramaiah and Dr. G Parameshwar who have been wanting to contest from two constituencies will not be permitted to do so.

The move comes amidst reports of Siddaramaiah wanting to contest from the Chamundeshwari and Badami constituency. The high command has left it to him to decide on which constituency he would want to contest from. Siddaramaiah was inclined to contest the Chamundeshwari seat, but he was advised to chose Badami as the former was not a safe bet for him.

Siddaramaiah would make his choice and tell the high command by Friday. The Central Election Committee of the Congress is meeting in New Delhi today at 10 am to finalise the list of candidates for the May 12 election.

Siddaramaiah feels that contesting from Chamudenshwari would also help his son win the election from the neighbouring seat in Varuna.

Parameshwar, on the other hand, had planned on contesting from Korategere from where he lost in 2013 and Pulakeshinagar in Bengaluru. However, sources say that Parameshwar would only contest from Koratagere. This would mean that the Congress would field either Akhanda Srinivas Murthy, the sitting MLA from Pulakeshinagar or former MLA Prasanna Kumar.

The Congress is of the opinion that if two seat contests are allowed then there would be similar demands from others. Moreover, the Election Commission of India has urged the Supreme Court to ban this practice.