Karnataka Bypoll 2019: Filing of nomination from Nov 11, result on Dec 9

Bengaluru, Nov 10: The date of nomination filing for the bypolls to the 15 assembly elections in Karnataka will start from November 11, said chief electoral officer of the state Sanjeev Kumar on Sunday.

The EC announcement comes a day after the Supreme Court said the fate of the 17 disqualified Karnataka MLAs will be decided on November 13.

These MLAs of the former JD(S)-Congress coalition government had resigned from their positions to pave way for the BJP to form a government in the state.

All 17 disqualified MLAs of Karnataka are in a quandary as the Supreme Court has not pronounced its verdict on their petitions and the process of filing nomination papers for the byelections to 15 constituencies commences on Monday.

The fate of these MLAs depends on the court ruling, they will not be able to file their nominations between November 11 and 18 if the apex court does not deliver its verdict.

The bye-elections to 15 constituencies were initially scheduled for October 21 but it was later deferred until the three-judge bench decides on the petitions by the 17 disqualified legislators. Bye-elections to RR Nagar and Maski are yet to be announced.

The bye-elections were first rescheduled for December 5 but the disqualified MLAs once again moved the SC to further defer the polls until the case is resolved. The polling will happen in 4185 polling stations.

The 17 rebels include Pratap Gouda Patil, BC Patil, Shivaram Hebbar, ST Someshekhar, Byrati Basavraj, Anand Singh, R Roshan Baig, Muniratna, K Sudhakar, MTB Nagaraj, Shrimant Patil, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kumatahalli and R Shankar from the Congress and JD(S) legislators AH Vishwanath, Gopalaiah and Narayana Gowda.

Earlier, the Election Commission had postponed the bypolls, which were scheduled on October 21, to December 5 in view of the pendency of the petitions filed by the disqualified lawmakers.