The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday night, 12 April, released its second list of 23 candidates for the Karnataka Assembly polls, dropping seven incumbent MLAs.
Who all were denied tickets? Tickets were denied to seven sitting MLAs, including Channagiri MLA Madal Virupakshappa, who is the main accused in a bribery scandal and is currently in prison over corruption charges.
Other sitting MLAs who were denied tickets are CM Nimbannavar from Kalaghatagi seat, SA Ravindranath from Davanagere North, Nehru Olekar from Haveri, N Lingana from Mayakonda, and Sukumar Shetty from Byndoor.
Who are in the list? The list includes four Scheduled Caste, one Scheduled Tribe, and two women candidates, the BJP has announced. In Haveri, Gavisiddappa Dyamannavar has been nominated, while in Byndoor, sitting MLA Shetty has made way for Gururaj Gantihole.
Deepak Doddaiah was named for Mudigere, Nagaraj Chabbi, who quit Congress and joined the party recently, has been named for Kalghatgi, and in Mayakonda, Basavaraja Naik has been given the ticket.
In Davangere North, Lokikere Nagraj has been given the ticket.
Hubli-Dharwad Central still undeclared: The BJP has not yet named its candidate from the Hubli-Dharwad Central constituency, currently represented by former Chief Minister and six-time MLA Jagadish Shettar.
Total candidates announced: The BJP has till now announced 212 candidates for 224 member Assembly. In total, the party has not given a ticket to 18 sitting MLAs.
Meanwhile, Minister for Infrastructure Development V Somanna, who will be contesting against Congress leader and former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah in Varuna, wanted his son Arun to be fielded from Gubbi in Tumakuru district, but the ticket went to SD Dileep Kumar.
However, Govindraj Nagar, which is represented by Somanna, is still left to be announced.
G Karunakar Reddy, the elder brother of mining baron Janardhana Reddy, was given Harapanahalli seat, currently represented by him.
Filing of nominations will begin on 13 April and continue till 20 April. The elections are scheduled to be held in a single phase on 10 May and the results will be declared on 13 may.
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