Bengaluru: The Congress released its sixth and final list in the early hours of Thursday. The party announced candidates for the remaining five constituencies. The party has nominated B V Rajeev Gowda from Sidlaghatta, replacing sitting MLA V Muniyappa, Mohammed Shalam for Raichur, S Anand Kumar from C V Raman Nagar, H P Sridhar Gowda from Arkalgud and Inayath Ali from Mangalore City North.
The party has fielded candidates for all 224 Assembly segments in the state. Karnataka will go to polls on May 10. On Wednesday night, the Congress announced its fifth list of three candidates. It replaced the candidate against Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai in Shiggaon. Initially, the party had fielded Mohammed Yousuf Savanur from Shiggaon. The party has now nominated Yasir Ahmed Khan Phatan in his place.
The party denied a ticket to sitting MLA R Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy from Pulakeshinagar. Murthy filed nomination as an independent candidate on Wednesday. Murthy, a Dalit, had created a record by winning the 2018 Assembly elections with the highest margin of 81,626 votes. It has fielded A C Srinivasa in his place.
The Congress has fielded D K Mohan in Bengaluru's K R Puram against BJP's Byrathi Basavaraj, a Minister in the Basavaraj Bommai government. Byrathi Basavaraj had won the seat on a Congress ticket in the 2018 Assembly polls. Basavaraj was among the 17 Congress turncoats who resigned in 2018. This led to the collapse of the Congress- JDS coalition government leading to the present BJP government. Basavaraj won the by-polls on BJP ticket.
The Congress has fielded B C Muddugangadhar from Mulbagal. In 2018, the seat was won by independent candidate H Nagesh. Nagesh is presently the Congress candidate from Mahadevapura segment in Bengaluru. The scrutiny of nominations will be held on April 21. The last day for the withdrawal of candidature is April 24.
