Karnataka bypoll: Nominations of 218 candidates 'valid'

A total of 218 candidates has been declared as 'validly nominated' for December 5 byelections to 15 assembly constituencies in Karnataka, for which the scrutiny of nominations took place on Tuesday, poll officials said.

Out of the total 355 nominations received from candidates in all the 15 constituencies till Monday which was the last date to file nominations, 54 have been rejected.

The 218 validly nominated candidates comprise 15 each from BJP and Congress, 14 from JD(S), 2 from BSP, one from NCP, 46 from other parties and 125 independents.

While highest number of validly nominated candidates is from Shivajinagar with 26 candidates, followed by Hoskote 24; Krishnarajpet with 7 has the least number of candidates.

The candidates whose nominations have been rejected include Yemkanmardi Congress MLA Satish Jarkiholi from Gokak, who had filed his papers during the last moment on Monday, fearing chances of his brother and Congress official candidate Lakhan Jarkiholis nomination getting rejected.

The last date for withdrawal of candidatures is November 21 and the counting of votes would take place on December 9.

The bypolls were necessitated after the resignation and absence of 17 Congress-JD(S) legislators from the trust vote led to the collapse of H D Kumaraswamy headed coalition government and paved way for the BJP to come to power.

The 17 legislators were subsequently disqualified by the then Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar. However the Supreme Court last week heard MLA's petition challenging the disqualification and allowed them to contest the bypolls.

With winning majority of seats crucial for the government's survival, BJP fielded 13 disqualified legislators as party candidates from their respective constituencies.

Taking the bypolls as a prestige issue, the Congress and JD(S) have said that ensuring defeat of disqualified MLAs, who "betrayed" them, was their main agenda.

The 15 constituencies that would go for bypolls are: Athani, Kagwad, Gokak, Yellapur, Hirekerur, Ranibennur, Vijayanagar, Chikballapur, KR Puram, Yeshwanthpur, Mahalakshmi Layout, Shivajinagar, Hoskote, KR Pet and Hunsur.

While elections to Maski and RR Nagar constituencies have been withheld as separate cases with regard to them are pending before the high court.

Among the 15 constituencies going for bypolls, 12 were held by Congress and 3 by JD(S).