Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018: BJP announces first list of 72 candidates

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday released its first of 72 candidates for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections 2018. As expected, most sitting MLAs have been given tickets. Three leaders who recently joined the party from other outfits have also been accomodated.

This comes following a meeting of the BJP's Central Election Committee at the party headquarters in Delhi. The meeting was chaired by party president Amit Shah, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, State BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa the members of of the top party body which decides the names of the candidates.

Yeddyurappa will be contesting the Assembly Elections from Shikaripura constituency in Shimoga. Veteran state leaders Jagadish Shettar and K S Eswarappa will contest from Hubli Dharwad Central and Shimoga Assembly seats, respectively, it said.

The BJP has also fielded its Lok Sabha MP B Sriramulu in the polls.

The meeting, official sources said, delineated on probable candidates for over 140 seats and the names of remaining candidates are likely to be announced soon.

Here is the list of 72 candidates

1. Nippani - Shashikala Jolle
2. Athani - Laxman Savadi
3. Kagwad - Bharamagouda H Kage
4. Kudachi (SC) - P Rajeev
5. Raybag (SC) - Duryodhana Aihole
6. Hukkeri - Umesh Katti
7. Arabhavi - Balachandra Jarakiholi
8. Belgaum Rural - Sanjay Patil
9. Baihongal - Vishwanatha Patil
10. Saudatti Yellamma - Anand Vishwanath Mamani
11. Mudhol (SC) - Govind Karjol
12. Muddebihal - AS Patil Nadahalli
13. Babaleshwar - Vijugouda Patil
14. Bijapur City - Basavanagouda Patil Yetnal
15. Sindgi - Ramesh Bhusanur
16. Afzalpur - Malikaiah Guttedar
17. Shorapur (ST) - Naraishma Naik
18. Shahpur - Guru Patil Shiraval
19. Gulbarga Dakshin - Dattatrya Patil Revur
20. Aland - Subhash Guttedar
21. Basavakalyan - Mallikarjun Khuba
22. Aurad (SC) - Prabhu Chouhan
23. Raichur Rural (ST) - Thipparaju Havaldar
24. Raichur - Shivaraj Patil
25. Devadurga (ST) - Shivanagouda Naik
26. Lingsugur (SC) - Manappa Vajjal
27. Kushtagi - Doddanagouda Patil
28. Dharwad - Amruth Desai
29. Hubli-Dharwad-Central - Jagdadeesh Shettar
30. Hubli-Dharwad-West - Aravinda Bellad
31. Karwar - Roopali Naik
32. Sirsi - Kageri Vishweswara Hegde
33. Hangal - CM Udasi
34. Shiggaon - Basavaraj Bommai
35. Hirekerur - UB Banakar
36. Vijayanagara - Gaviyappa
37. Kampli (ST) - TH Suresh Babu
38. Sandur (ST) - B Raghavendra
39. Molokalmuru (ST) - B Sriramulu
40. Chitradurga - GH Thippareddy
41. Hiriyur - Poornima Srinivas
42. Hosadurga - Gulihatti D Shekhar
43. Dacanagere North - SA Ravindranath
44. Shimoga - KS Eswarappa
45. Shikaripura - BS Yeddyurappa (Chief ministerial candidate)
46. Kundapura - Haladi Srinivasa Setty
47. Karkal - V Sunil Kumar
48. Sringeri - DN Jeevaraj
49. Chikmagaluru - CT Ravi
50. Tumkur Rural - B Suresh Gowda
51. Kolar Gold Field (SC) - Y Sampangi
52. Yelahanka - SR Vishwanath
53. Rajarajeshwari Nagar - PM Muniraju Gowda
54. Dasarahalli - S Muniraju
55. Malleshwaram - CN Ashwathnarayan
56. Hebbal - YA Narayanaswamy
57. CV Raman Nagar (SC) - S Raghu
58. Rajaji Nagar - S Sureshkumar
59. Govindraj Nagar - V Somanna
60. Chickpet - Uday Garudachar
61. Basavanagudi - Ravi Subramanya
62. Padmanaba Nagar - R Ashok
63. Jayanagar - BN Vijayakumar
64. Mahadevapura (SC) - Aravinda Limbaveli
65. Bommanahalli - Satish Reddy
66. Bangalore South - M Krishnappa
67. Anekal (SC) - A Narayanaswamy
68. Hosakote - Sharath Bachegowda
69. Channapatna - CP Yogishwar
70. Shrirangapattana - Nanjunde Gowda
71. Sullia (SC) - S Angara
72. Madikeri - Appachu Ranjan

Meanwhile, the ruling Congress has completed two rounds of discussions, one for the seats that it did not win in 2013 and the second for the 122 that it did. Janata Dal (Secular) has already released the list of 126 candidates.

Karnataka will go to polls on May 12 to elect its representatives for the 225-member assembly. The results will be out on May 15.