K'taka bypolls: Candidates rush to file nominations on last day

Bengaluru: There was a rush of candidates to file nomination papers on Monday for byelections to 15 assembly segments in Karnataka to be held on December 5.

With the day being the last date for filing of papers and also an auspicious day, majority of the candidates chose to file them.

As Friday and Sunday were government holidays, the candidates could not file the nominations whereas on Saturday, which was a working day, most preferred to stay away as it was considered inauspicious from the astrological point of view.

More than anybody, it was a show of strength by the disqualified MLAs who are seeking their re-entry to the assembly on the BJP ticket.

They were previously in Congress and the JD(S) and had resigned from the assembly and were eventually disqualified.

However, the Supreme Court upholding their disqualification allowed them to contest election.

Those who filed their nominations on Monday included the Jarkiholi brothers – Ramesh Jarkiholi(BJP) and Lakhan Jarkiholi (Congress).

In Mahalakshmi Layout, K Gopalaiah, a former JD(S) MLA, is contesting as the BJP candidate.

His wife filed the nominations as an independent candidate.

In Hirekerur, BJP candidate B C Patil and his daughter Srishti Patil filed their nomination papers.

It was an arrangement by Gopalaiah and Patil to retain the seat within the family in the event of the rejection of their nomination papers.

The JD(S) sprang a surprise in Hirekerur by fielding Shivalinga Shivacharya Swami of Kabbina Kanti Math to take on B C Patil.

This was a decision taken overnight.

Others who entered the fray as the BJP candidates were Dr K Sudhakar from Chikkaballapura, Anand Singh from Vijayanagar, M T B Nagaraj from Hoskote, S T Somashekhar from Yashwanthapur, Byrathi Basavaraj from KR Puram, Narayana Gowda from K R Pet and Mahesh Kumathalli from Athani.

Rizwan Arshad too filed his nominations as a Congress candidate from Shivajinagar, who will take on Tanveer Ahmed from the JD(S) and M Saravana from the BJP.

There seems to be a triangular fight in Vijayanagar.

Besides battling out against his former party Congress candidate Venkat Rao Ghorpade, Anand Singh is also confronting with a rebel BJP leader Kaviraj Urs who too filed their nominations.

M Anjanappa and Raju Kage filed their nominations as the Congress candidates from Chikkaballapura and Kagwad.

Kagwad would fight against BJPs Srimant Patil.

There was an awkward situation in KR Pete when Narayana Gowda went to file nominations when some local residents tried to humiliate him for his decision to resign from the assembly as a JD(S) MLA and seek re-entry to assembly on BJP ticket.