BJP's CM face Yeddyurappa files nomination for Karnataka polls

The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Chief Ministerial candidate for the May 12 Karnataka Assembly polls, B.S. Yeddyurappa, on Thursday filed his nomination papers from Shikaripura Assembly segment, a party official said.

"Yeddyurappa has filed his nomination from Shikaripura constituency," the party's state spokesman S. Shantharam told IANS here.

He will be contesting from his hometown Shikaripura in Shivamogga district, about 300 km northwest of Bengaluru, for the eighth time since 1983.

Yeddyurappa, 75, a Lok Sabha member from Shivamogga in the state's Malnad region, was the BJP's first Chief Minister in Karnataka from 2008 to 2011 when he resigned following an indictment by the state ombudsman (Lokayukta) in a multi-crore mining scam.

In a related development, another BJP leader K.S. Eshwarappa, the party's leader in the state Legislative Council, also filed his nomination from Shivamogga Assembly segment.

Eshwarappa, who was the Deputy Chief Minister in the BJP's first government in the state from 2008 to 2013, will be contesting from the seat for the sixth time. He lost the seat in the 2013 Assembly elections to the Congress.

Also, the ruling Congress' Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar filed his nomination from Kanakapura in Ramanagara district, about 55 km from Bengaluru.

Polling across the state's 224 Assembly segments will take place in a single phase on May 12 from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Votes are to be counted on May 15, as per the notification issued by Governor Vajubhai R. Vala on Tuesday.

According to it, April 24 is the last date for filing nominations. Scrutiny of nominations will be on April 25 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is April 27.

--IANS

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