Congress releases list of 8 candidates for Karnataka bypolls

Congress on Thursday released list of eight candidates for the upcoming by-elections in Karnataka which will be held on December 5.

The candidates are -- Bhimmanna Naik (Yellapur), BH Bannikod (Hirekerur), KB Koliwad (Rannebennur), M Anjanappa (Chikkaballapur), M Narayanswamy (KR Pura), M Shivaraj (Mahalakshmi Layout), Padmavathi Suresh (Hoskote) and HP Manjunath (Hunsur).

"Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi approved the proposal for the candidature of the following persons as party candidates for the ensuing by-elections to the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka," party general secretary Mukul Wasnik said in a statement.

Earlier, the bypolls in Karnataka were scheduled to be held on October 21 in 15 constituencies that were vacated by rebel MLAs of Congress and JD (S).

However, the election date was later shifted to December 5 by the Election Commission (EC). Counting of votes will take place on December 9.

The 15 assembly constituencies which will go to polls are -- Athani, Kagwad, Gokak, Yellapur, Hirekerur, Ranibennur, Vijayanagara, Chikkaballapur, K R Pura, Yeshvanthapura, Mahalakshmi, Shivajinagar, Hosakote, Krishnarajpet, and Hunsur.

Polling will be conducted from 7 am to 6 pm on December 5, the EC had said.