Karnataka bypolls: Siddaramaiah confident of Congress win

Bengaluru: The Election Commission announced by-polls on April 9 to two assembly seats in Karnataka, Gundlupet in Chamarajanagar and Nanjangud in Mysuru district.

The election were necessitated in Nanjanagudu when V. Srinivas Prasad, who represented the constituency, resigned from the assembly membership to join the BJP after he was dropped from the Siddaramaiah cabinet. In Gundlupet, H.S. Mahadev Prasad’s death forced a by-poll.

The ruling Congress party is likely to field Geeta Mahadev Prasad from Gundlupet and Kalale Keshava Murthy from Nanjangudu constituencies respectively while the BJP will field former minister, Mr Srinivas Prasad from Nanjanagudu. It is yet to zero in on a candidate for Gundlupet constituency but sources in the BJP said Niranjan who lost the last two polls by a narrow margin may be fielded again.CM Siddaramaiah, meanwhile, exuded confidence the Congress would win both seats.  He told reporters that state BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa’s dream to drive the Congress out of the state would not come to fruition. He said the bypolls weren’t a referendum on his government’s performance.  State JD(S) president H.D. Kumaraswamy tweeted saying since his party workers insisted, he would field candidates for both seats.

Poll code
Now that code of conduct is in place, can CM Siddaramaiah announce schemes for Mysuru and Chamaraja Nagar districts? Chief Electoral Officer Anil Kumar Jha told DC, "Our guidelines are clear with respect to by-polls. The government can’t annonce new schemes or identify new beneficiaries for any schemes in constituencies that go to by-polls. Besides, we have given directions on the movement of ministers in the two districts.”

Dates that count

• Gazette notification will be issued on March 14
• Last date for submission of nomination papers is March 21
• Scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on March 22
• Last date for withdrawal of nomination papers is March 24
• Polling will take place on April 9
• Counting of votes will take place on April 13