Karnataka Polls: Congress Election Committee to meet today, release second list of candidates

Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar announced that the party will release its second list of candidates for the state’s Assembly elections. The party’s Central Election Committee will meet again today, and the names of the candidates will be announced following the meeting, according to Shivakumar on Wednesday. In an interview with the media, Shivakumar stated, “(CEC) will meet again tomorrow. We are finalising it and a list will be announced at the earliest”.

Although the party has announced candidates for 124 seats, the remaining 100 seats have still to be filled. On Tuesday, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge stated that the party will hold comprehensive discussions on candidates for the State’s remaining 100 seats.

On March 25, the Congress unveiled their first list of 124 candidates for the elections, which included former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and State Party president DK Shivakumar. Karnataka elections will be held in a single phase on May 10, with vote counting taking place on May 13.

Siddaramaiah will run from the Varuna constituency, while DK Shivakumar will run from Kanakapura. Siddaramaiah has expressed interest in running for the Kolar constituency, but the Congress High Command told him to abandon the proposal due to differences among the party’s local leaders in the constituency. M Roopakala has been nominated by the party to represent the Kolar Gold Field constituency.

On Monday and Tuesday, a significant number of Congress activists demonstrated outside the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee office in Bengaluru, demanding that their leaders be given tickets to run in the elections. Karnataka now has 119 MLAs from the ruling BJP, 75 from the Congress, and 28 from its ally JD(S) in the Legislature.

The State’s political parties, including the ruling BJP, Congress, and ally JD(S), are engaged in a barrage of charges and counter-allegations, with the latter aiming to corner the government on the topic of corruption. The model code of conduct went into effect when the State’s elections were declared.