Karnataka Bypolls 2019: Congress releases first list of 8 candidates

Bengaluru, Oct 31: The Congress on Thursday released a list of eight candidates for the crucial bypolls in Karnataka.

Bhimanna Naik was named as the candidate from Yellapur, BH Bannikod from Hirekerur, KB Koliwad from Ranebennur, M Anjanappa from Chikkaballapur, M Narayanasamy from K R Pura, Padmavati Suresh from Hosakote and HP Manjunath from Hunsur.

The outcome of these elections may determine the fate of the four-month-old government of BS Yediyurappa.

Bypolls to 15 of 17 seats represented by disqualified Congress JD(S) MLAs, whose resignation and absence from trust vote led to the fall of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government and made way for the BJP to come to power, will be held on December 5.

The then Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar had disqualified them as MLAs, ruling that those disqualified cease to be MLAs with immediate effect till the expiry of the 15th assembly (in 2023), which they have challenged in the Supreme Court.

BJP needs six seats to win a simple majority in the assembly and continue the government.

The B S Yediyurappa led BJP assumed office on July 26, three days after the collapse of the Congress-JD(S) government with the defeat of the confidence motion moved by (then chief minister) Kumaraswamy in the assembly.

Ever since the collapse of the Kumaraswamy government, the Congress and JDS had blamed each other for the premature end of their coalition rule and their leaders had indicated there will be no alliance for the bypolls.

In an interview to PTI on Tuesday, Gowda has said JD(S) would contest the bypolls alone and "certainly maintain equidistance" from the Congress and the BJP.

Though 17 constituencies have fallen vacant, election had not been notified for Rajarajeshwari Nagar and Maski seats as litigations connected to them are pending in court.

The BJP and the JD(S) have not announced their candidate yet.