Bengaluru: The period for withdrawing nomination papers for the State Assembly elections has already ended. A stiff competition is expected in some areas of the state. Major political parties have fielded contingent candidates in some constituencies and there are few constituencies have drawn the attention of state.
In Belagavi’s Athani Constituency, the contest is between Mahesh Kumatalli of BJP and Laxman Savadi of Congress. Laxman Savadi is also a relative of senior BJP leader Yediyurappa. Recently, he left the BJP and joined the Congress after party denied ticket to him.
Next in line is, Channapattana Constituency, which also is all set to witness a strong contest, with H. D. Kumaraswamy of JD (S) and C. P. Yogeshwar of BJP in the fray. The speciality is that Kumaraswamy has won in four elections so far, and C. P. Yogeshwar has won five times. However, Yogeshwar, who had contested from this constituency in 2018 had lost.
Former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, who is a 6-time MLA, resigned from the BJP and joined the Congress after being denied a ticket from Hubballi-Dharawad Central Constituency and succeeded in getting a ticket there. BJP has given ticket to Mahesh Tenginakai. Shettar is Tenginakai’s political guru and there will be a contest between the guru’ and disciples in this constituency. BJP has also accepted it as a prestige arena.
Varuna constituency is a stronghold of Congress. Last time Siddaramaiah’s son Yathindra had contested from this constituency and won. But this time Siddaramaiah himself has entered the fray from this seat. BJP has fielded senior BJP leader and Minister V. Somanna to defeat him. Congress has taken this constituency as prestige. This is also Siddaramaiah’s lucky constituency and it is important for him to win this time as Siddaramaiah already has announced that this will be his last election.
G. Somasekhar Reddy from BJP, Anil Lad from JD (S) and Bharat Reddy from Congress are contesting from Ballari city. KJPP is also a major contender here and there is a four-way contest. What is special here is that KJPP has made Somasekhara Reddy’s daughter-in-law Aruna as its candidate. JD (S) candidate Anil Lad is also showing his strength. Bharat Reddy of Congress is being called a weak candidate here.
BJP has fielded Revenue Minister R. Ashok in Kanakapura, the stronghold of KPCC President D. K. Shivakumar. R. Ashoka is already campaigning in Kanakapura. D. K. Shivakumar has also campaigned. Will the BJP’s strategy of breaking the rock in Kanakapura work? We have to wait and see what counter measures Shivakumar is going to take.
Assembly elections will be held on May 10 and the results will be announced on May 13.