The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Assembly byelections: campaign set to take off

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Wednesday, Dec 10, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Assembly byelections: campaign set to take off

S. Rajendran

BJP, Congress, JD(S) contesting all eight seats

Wednesday is the last day for filing of nominations
The byelections will be held on December 27

Bangalore: The Mumbai terror attacks and the subsequent political developments in New Delhi have had an impact on the byelections to the Legislative Assembly from eight constituencies in Karnataka, and the question of an understanding between the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) has been relegated to the background.

Head start

The Congress, the JD(S) and the Bharatiya Janata Party have fielded candidates in all the constituencies, and this has given the BJP a head start. Wednesday is the last day for filing of nominations for the elections to be held on December 27.

Anitha Kumaraswamy, wife of the former Chief Minister and State JD(S) president, H.D. Kumaraswamy, and Kalpana Siddaraju, widow of the former MLA M.S. Siddaraju, who have filed their nomination papers for the Madhugiri and the Maddur constituencies respectively, are the only women in the fray.

JD(S) strongholds

Both Madhugiri and Maddur have been strongholds of the JD(S), although the Congress, which held these seats earlier, has a big presence there. The former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna, MP, represented Maddur earlier. D.C. Thammanna (a close relative of the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda) is the BJP candidate in Maddur. He recently crossed over to the BJP from the Congress.

A final picture of the total number of contestants in each of the constituencies is expected to emerge only on December 13, which is the last date for withdrawal of candidature. Forty-five candidates have so far filed their nominations. Twenty-eight of them are independents and nine are former legislators, notable among them being the four ministers in the B.S. Yeddyurappa Government who joined the BJP after resigning from the Assembly.

Sensitive

State Chief Electoral Officer M.N. Vidyashankar told The Hindu that all the eight constituencies have been classified as sensitive given the nature of the contest. Senior officials from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar will be the election observers. Each constituency will have at least two observers — a general observer and an expenditure observer. “We expect the elections to be peaceful, and the election code of conduct is being strictly adhered to,” he said.

Mr. Kumaraswamy and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president R.V. Deshpande said their respective election campaigns would begin in about two days.

The candidates have already begun campaigning. No national leader of the Congress or the BJP is expected to campaign in the State. All-India Congress Committee general secretary in charge of Karnataka Prithviraj Chavan is expected to the take the centre stage in the Congress campaign. Mr. Deve Gowda is expected to join the JD(S) campaign at a later date.

Prominent candidates

Prominent Congress candidates are B.V. Naik (Deodurg), Satish Sail (Karwar), A.B. Patil (Hukkeri), K.N. Rajanna (Madhugiri), Nanje Gowda (Turuvekere), Venkatachalaiah (Doddaballapur), Vivek Patil (Arabhavi) and Gurucharan (Maddur).

The JD(S) list includes Anitha Kumaraswamy (Madhugiri), Kalpana Siddaraju (Maddur), M.T. Krishnappa (Turuvekere) and Devadas Gaonkar (Karwar).

The BJP list includes four ministers: Balachandra Jarkiholi, Anand Asnotikar, Shivanagouda Naik and Umesh Katti.

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