Karnataka Elections 2023: Congress Releases Final Candidate List; Nominations Ends Today

The Congress in the early hours of Thursday released its sixth and final list of five candidates for the impending Karnataka assembly elections. In the final list, Mohammed Shalem was fielded from Raichur, BV Rajeev Gowda from Sidlaghatta, S Anand Kumar from C V Raman Nagar (SC), HP Sridhar Gowda from Arkalgud, and Inayath Ali from Mangalore City North. The party had on Wednesday replaced Mohammed Yousuf Savanur as its candidate from the Shiggaon constituency in Karnataka, currently under Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai, and fielded Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan instead from there. Bommai had defeated Congress candidates Sayed Azeempeer Khadri Shiggaon in the 2018 elections.

The party released its fifth list on Wednesday of three new candidates, fielding B C Muddugangadhar from the Mulbagal (SC) seat, D K Mohan from K R Pura, and A C Srinivasa from the Pulakeshinagar -- SC seat. With the sixth list, the Congress has announced 223 candidates, marking one seat in the 224-member assembly for Sarvodaya Karnataka Party, a regional outfit.

The Congress on Wednesday announced its fifth list of three candidates for the May 10 Assembly elections, replacing the one against Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai in Shiggaon. The party has fielded A C Srinivasa from Pulakeshinagar by denying ticket to its sitting MLA R Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy, who filed nomination as an independent candidate on Wednesday after it was clear that he will not be renominated.

Murthy, a Dalit, had won the 2018 assembly election with the highest margin of 81,626 votes, creating a record. Murthy's house along with the DJ Halli police station was torched by a violent mob in August 2020, over a social media post shared by his relative.

In Bengaluru's K R Puram, Congress has fielded D K Mohan against BJP's Byrathi Suresh, a Minister in the Basavaraj Bommai government. Interestingly, Suresh had won the seat on Congress ticket in the 2018 Assembly polls. He was among the 17 Congress-JD(S) MLAs who resigned, which had led to the collapse of the coalition government and paved the way for BJP to come to power in 2019. In the subsequent bypolls he won on BJP ticket.

In Mulbagal, the party has fielded B C Muddugangadhar. In 2018, the seat was won by independent candidate H Nagesh, who is now Congress candidate from Mahadevapura segment in Bengaluru. The Congress has so far announced candidates for 219 out of total 224 seats (including in Melukote where it's backing a candidate of a different party).

The last date for filing of nominations is April 20. The assembly polls in the state held by BJP will take place on May 10 and the results will be announced on May 13.