Karnataka polls: Congress declares 2nd list, no decision yet on Kolar

Congress on Thursday unveiled its second list of 42 candidates for the forthcoming Karnataka assembly elections, which will take place on 10 May.

However, a decision has not been taken about the Kolar constituency, from where former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had intended to fight.

The party is seeking to unseat the BJP in the upcoming assembly polls. Congress has decided to field Darshan Puttannaiah of the Sarvodaya Karnataka Party from the Melukote constituency, the son of K S Puttanaiah.

Moreover, the Congress has accepted candidates who left the BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular). In the forthcoming elections, the party hopes to dethrone the BJP in the state.

As per sources, despite disagreement between the party’s local leaders in Kolar, the Congress high command asked the former CM to drop his plan to fight in the Kolar constituency.

However, former minister Vinay Kulkarni, who is set to fight the upcoming polls from Dharwad constituency, will have to campaign remotely because the Supreme Court has disallowed his entry into the district because he was named by the CBI in connection with the 2016 murder case of a BJP worker, Yogeeshgouda Goudar.

The Central Election Committee of the party will meet again today at 2:30 pm in Delhi. The names of 124 candidates were announced in the first list on 25 March and 42 names were declared in the second list; it is expected that the remaining candidates names will be revealed after today’s meeting.

State assembly polls in Karnataka will be held on 10 May and the results will come out on 13 May.