Congress finalises first list of 125 candidates

Bengaluru : Congress has finalised the list of 125 candidates for 224 total seats in Karnataka State Assembly. In Uttara Kannada district out of six Assembly seats, the high command have decided to field the veteran politician sitting MLA R V Deshpande from Haliyal Constituency, Ex-MLAs Satish K Sail from Karwar-Ankola Constituency and Mankal S Vaidya from Bhatkal-Honnavar Constituecy.
According to Congress sources, the candidates have been finalised after many rounds of survey by the high command and state screening committee.

The Congress has finalised about 125 candidates for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections where it has decided to go solo.
The list is expected to out within the next 48 hours, said Congress sources.
The party’s Central Election Committee met on Friday evening and deliberated on each seat. The list is likely to come out soon. All sitting MLAs likey to get tickets except four MLAs-(Pavgada, Siddalghatta, Gundigal and Afzalpur). Second CEC will meet after March 22nd.
The issue of BJP Minister V Somanna also came up during the meeting. He had reportedly demanded two seats-Hunnur and Govindrajnagar. The issue has been kept pending. Deceased KPCC working president Dhruvanarayn’s son will also get ticket. Independent Nagesh and Sharath Bachegowda are likely to get tickets. Turncoat BJP MLC Puttana will is also likely to get ticket from Rajajinagar. However, his nomination was opposed by Congress workers.

Meanwhile, Congress’ state chief D.K. Shivakumar said that the the party will not go in any alliance in the state.
Sources said that some sitting MLAs may not get ticket.
The Congress currently has 68 MLAs in the 224-member house and the state screening committee already prepared a list comprising names for most of the constituencies.

The committee has recommended single names of around 125 constituencies and two or three names for other constituencies.
State leaders have urged the party should also give proper representation to sub-castes of SCs/STs and Other Backward Class.
The Congress has received more than 1,300 applications for the 224 seats and Shivakumar said that “the people of the state have made their mind for change as they are fed up of corruption of the BJP government”.
Congress in Karnataka is strategising to field a formidable candidate against Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai in Shiggaon constituency to ensure his defeat, sources said.
The party will soon take a call on fielding former minister Vinay Kulkarni against Bommai. The calculation is that Kulkarni belongs to Panchamasali sub caste of Lingayat community while Bommai belongs to Sadar sub-caste.
While the selection of candidates is still in progress, the Congress is keen on fielding Kulkarni. His candidature will help Congress to cash in on the anger of the Panchamasali community against Bommai over the delay in providing reservations for the community under 2A category. The Panchamasali community wants to be included in 2A category (15 percent) of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservation matrix. They were till now under the 3B category (5 percent).