karnataka polls: Will win at least 125 seats out of 189 announced: Yediyurappa

Former Karnataka Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader BS Yediyurappa said on Wednesday that the party announced candidates for 189 seats yesterday, of which it expects to win at least 125 in the state assembly elections, and that the second list will be released by tonight.

Speaking to ANI, Yediyurappa said, “Out of 189 seats that were announced yesterday, 52 are new. We will win a minimum of 125 to 130 seats out of the 189 seats that were announced yesterday. We are happy with the announcement. We will form govt in Karnataka. I think the second list of candidates will be released by tonight.” 

When asked about his decision to leave electoral politics, KS Eshwarappa stated that he had voluntarily written to the party’s national president, JP Nadda, to inform him that he would not be contesting the elections.

“Eshwarappa voluntarily wrote a letter to the party president that he will work for the party and he does not want to contest,” he explained.

Concerning Jagadish Shettar, a former Karnataka Chief Minister and six-time BJP MLA whose name was missing from the party’s first list released yesterday, Yediyurappa stated that his name has a good chance of appearing in the second list.

“99 per cent Jagadish Shettar (former Karnataka CM) will be given an election ticket,” he said.

When asked about the Congress petitioning the Election Commission about the voter list issues, the BJP leader stated that the party is doing so because it is aware of its defeat in the polls.

“That means they know that they are going to lose the elections. They have given such statements previously also,” he said.

Meanwhile, the BJP on Tuesday released the first list of candidates for 189 of the 224 Karnataka Assembly seats, with 52 new candidates receiving tickets.

While addressing the press conference BJP’s National General Secretary Arun Singh said, “We have released a list of 189 candidates. 52 out of 189 are fresh candidates”.

“52 new faces, 8 women, 9 doctors, 5 lawyers, one retired IPS officer, three retired government employees, and 8 social activists have been given tickets,” he added.

He went on to say that Vijendran, the son of former Karnataka Chief Minister B. S. Yediyurappa, was also given the ticket.

“Yeddyurappa’s son Vijendran has been given the ticket in his place.” Ministers- Shashikala Jolai, R Ashok, Prabho Chauhan, Shankar Muniyakappa, Muniratna, ST Somashekar, VC Patil, Varity Vasuraj, Murgesh Nirani, CC Patil, Sunil Kumar, Shivram Hebbar have been given tickets.

“Vishwaser Hegde (Speaker) has been given the ticket. V Somanna MLA from Govindraj Nagar has been given a ticket from Chamaraj Nagar and Varuna Assembly. It will directly challenge Congress leader Siddaramaiah,” he added.

From the OBC community, tickets have been distributed to Lingayat-51, Vokkalinga-41, Kurba-7, SC-30, ST-16, and 32. Karnataka will hold Assembly elections on May 10 and vote counting will take place on May 13.