Congress announces 6 more candidates for Karnataka by-polls

The Congress party has announced the names of six candidates in the second list for the upcoming by-elections in Karnataka which will be held on December 5.

The by-polls can be a tough fight for Congress as most of its candidates are contesting against the leaders who were once torchbearers of the party and have now shifted to the BJP. The elections will be held for 15 assembly constituencies, of which 12 were held by Congress.

Congress vs ex-Congress

The party has fielded Lakhan Jarkiholi from Gokak constituency against his brother Ramesh Jarkiholi, who had switched from Congress to BJP. Even though Rizwan Arshad was unsuccessful in the Lok Sabha elections, he will be contesting from Shivajinagar assembly seat that was previously held by R Roshan Baig.

Seven-time MLA from Shivajinagar, Baig was one among the 17 rebel MLAs from Congress who left the party and paved way for the BJP government to head the state. Even though he expected a place in the saffron fort, he was not inducted and is likely to stand as an independent candidate

Former MLA Bharamgouda Alagouda (Raju) Kage, who had recently shifted to Congress from the saffron party will contest from Kagwad constituency against Shrimant Gowda Patil, who was also a Congressman now contesting on a BJP ticket.

Gajanan Balachandra Mangasuli will contest against Mahesh Kumatalli for Athani and Venkatrao Ghorpade from Vijayanagara against Anand Singh. KB Chandrashekar will face KC Narayanagowda from Krishnarajpet constituency. Narayanagowda had claimed that BJP helped him in winning the elections in 2018.

The party has also named Praveen Peter as its candidate for the biannual election to the legislative council of Karnataka. From the 17 disqualified legislators who toppled the Congress-JD(S) coalition, 16 have been inducted to the saffron party. Out of this, 13 of them have been given BJP tickets to contest from their respective seats.