Congress releases first list with 124 candidates

Former CM Siddu to contest from Varuna constituency

Bengaluru, March 25: On the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Bengaluru to flag off Whitefield – KR Puram metro line the Congress party on Saturday announced the first list of 124 candidates for upcoming Karnataka assembly elections due in May. The list has cleared that former chief minister Siddaramaiah will contest from Varuna and not from Kolar assembly constituency.

The list also has the sitting and heavy weight legislators like the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president DK Shivakumar from Kanakapura, Dinesh Gundurao from Gandhinagar, Priyank Kharge from Chittaur, Krishna Byregowda from Byatarayanapura etal.  

“The Central Election Committee (CEC) has selected the following persons as Congress candidates for the upcoming elections to the Legislative Assembly,” the AICC press release said.

Other names in the list included Congress leaders Satish Jarkiholi from Yemkanmardi, Lakshmi Hebbalkar from Belgaum Rural, Rizwan Arshad from Shivajinagar, Tanveer Sait from Narasimharaja, BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan from Chamrajpet, former deputy CM G Parameshwara from Koratagere and former minister KH Muniappa from Devanahalli, among others.

The party’s CEC, chaired by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, cleared the first list of candidates after a meeting held in Delhi on March 17, along with notable leaders like Rahul Gandhi.

The Congress is the second party to release its candidates’ list for the crucial elections in the state after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which released its first list, comprising 80 candidates, on Monday.

Reacting on the first list KPCC president Shivakumar said that the people of Karnataka have lost faith in incumbent BJP. Prime Minister Modi who is making repeated visits to Karnataka is of the opinion that his charm would get votes to BJP. People have already decided to root out corrupt government, he added.

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Hosakote is one of the prominent assembly constituency which was last time represented by incumbent minister MTB Nagaraj. After he jumped to BJP another congress leader Padmavathi, Hebbal legislator Suresh’s wife contested from Hosakote and suffered defeat. For the upcoming assembly polls incumbent independent MLA Sharath Bachegowda has been shortlisted from the Congress.

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