25 seats at stake: Cong list for MLC polls on Nov. 20

By Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: The list of 25 Congress  candidates for the December 10 elections to the Legislative Council from the local  bodies constituencies will be  released by November 20. A working president of  Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC)  told News Trail that the process of selection is in the  final stages. Already, KPCC  President D.K.Shivakumar,  Opposition leader Siddaramaiah and other Congress  party office-bearers are  holding consultations with  MLAs, MLCs and district  leaders about the candidates. This process has been  going on for the last one  week.

No ticket for KPCC women’s wing chief, MLA’s brother: The Congress leader also  disclosed that the party  has decided not to give the  ticket to KPCC Women  Cell President Dr Pushpa  Amarnath and Belagavi  MLA Lakshmi Hebbalkar’s  brother, Chennaraj Hattiholi for certain reasons.  Dr Pushpa had submitted  a memorandum to KPCC  Working President Salim  Ahmed seeking a ticket from  Mysuru. But since this seat  is reserved for Scheduled  Caste (left), the sitting MLC,  N.Dharmasena, a close associate of Siddaramaiah, is  likely to get the ticket.

Similarly, Hebbalkar’s  brother, Chennaraj may not  get the ticket as the party did  not want to be accused of  promoting dynastic politics. While a majority of the  sitting MLCs are interested  in seeking re-election, Narayanaswamy and Raghu  Achar, have not shown interest to continue in the Upper  House as they want to contest the 2023 Assembly polls.  The Dharwad seat became  vacant after sitting MLC,  Srinivasa Mane won the  Hangal Assembly seat. The  party has to find a suitable  candidate for the district  too. With November 23 the  last date for filing nominations, candidates will be finalized by November 20.