Cong, BJP name candidates for Chincholi, Kundgol by-elections

Bengaluru: Congress and BJP tonight named their candidates for the May 19 by elections to Chincholi and Kundgol.

Congress has fielded Subhash Rathod from Chincholi and Kusumavathi Shivalli from Kundgol.

Rathod and Shivalli will be pitted against BJP candidates Avinash Jadhav and Chikkanagouda Patil.

Their candidature was announced by Congress general secretary Mukul Wasnik in a press note Saturday night.

Subhash Rathod from Banjara community is close to Congress heavyweight Mallikarjun Kharge, whereas Shivalli is the widow of Kundgol Congress MLA C S Shivalli, whose demise about a month ago warranted the bypoll.

Meanwhile, BJP too announced the name of the two candidates from the two constituencies.

The BJP has decided to field Dr Umesh Jadhavs son Avinash Jadhav from Chincholi and Chikkanagouda Patil from Kundgol,” BJP spokesperson S Prakash told PTI.

Jadhav is the son of Congress MLA Dr Umesh Jadhav, who resigned from the assembly and joined BJP to take on Congress heavyweight Mallikarjun Kharge in the Gulbarga Lok Sabha election recently.

His resignation warranted the bypoll in Chincholi.

The Congress decided the candidates at a meeting led by AICC general secretary and Karnataka in charge K C Venugopal, state Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao and former chief minister Siddaramaiah at the state Congress headquarters this afternoon.

Congress working president Eshwar Khandre, deputy chief minister Dr G Parameshwara, and many other senior Congress functionaries were present.

The elections will be held on May 19 and the election commission has already issued a notification to the effect.

The counting will take place on May 23 along with the counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections.