Bengaluru: The stage is set for the second phase of elections in the 14 Lok Sabha seats of Karnataka on Tuesday. It is going to be a straight fight between the Congress and BJP in Parliamentary segments in the northern districts. The state has a total of 28 Lok Sabha constituencies. The first phase of polling in 14 seats in most of the southern and coastal districts was held on April 26.
A total of 227 candidates -- 206 men and 21 women -- are in the fray for the second phase. The segments where elections will be held on Tuesday are Chikkodi, Belgavi, Bagalkot, Vijayapur, Kalaburagi, Raichur, Bidar, Koppal, Bellary, Haveri, Dharwad, Uttara Kannada, Davangere and Shivamogga. Former Chief Ministers Basavaraj Bommai (Haveri) and Jagadish Shettar (Balgavi), Union Ministers Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad) and Bhagwanth Khuba (Bidar) -- all from BJP--and Congress's Geetha Shivrajkumar (Shivamogga), wife of actor Shivrajkumar and daughter of former CM S Bangarappa, and AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge's son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani (Gulbarga) are among the prominent names in the fray.
Congress Ministers' Children in the Fray: Mrinal Ravindra Hebbalkar contesting from Belagavi is the son of Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar, Sagar Khandre, the son of Eshwar Khandre, is contesting from Bidar, Priyanka Jarkiholi is contesting from Chikkodi, who is the daughter of Minister Satish Jarkiholi, Samyukta Patil contesting from Bagalkote is the daughter of Minister Shivanand Patil.
Prabha Mallikarjun, wife of Minister SS Mallikarjun and daughter-in-law of veteran Congress leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa, is in the fray from Davangere.
There is a triangle contest in Shivamogga: BY Raghavendra, the son of former Chief Minister BY Yediyurappa, is contesting as the BJP and JDS alliance candidate, Geeta Sivarajkumar, the daughter of former Chief Minister Bangarappa and the wife of film star Shivrajkumar, from the Congress and KS Eshwarappa is in the fray as an independent candidate. After his son Kantesh did not get the Haveri ticket, former DCM Eshwarappa rebelled and is contesting as an independent candidate.
BJP denied tickets to sitting MPs in six constituencies: The BJP has not allocated tickets to sitting MPs in six constituencies out of 14 constituencies. The BJP has fielded new candidates in Belagavi, Chitradurga, Koppal, Uttara Kannada, Haveri, Davangere and Bellary. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, BJP won all the 14 seats.
