Karnataka 2023: Congress Releases First List Of Candidates; Siddaramaiah Given Varuna But Wants To Contest From Kolar Too

The Congress on Saturday, 25 March, 2023 announced its first list of 124 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Karnataka.

• Former chief minister Siddaramaiah will contest the Varuna constituency. It is being currently represented by his son, Yathindra Siddaramaiah.

• Pradesh Congress Committee chief DK Shivakumar will contest the Kanakapura assembly constituency.

• Former deputy chief minister G Parameshwara will contest from the Koratagere (SC) constituency.

• Former Union Minister and former Kolar MP, K H Muniyappa, will contest from Devanahalli. Recently, many local office bearers of the Congress had resigned from the party protesting Muniyappa's candidature from the seat.

• Priyank Kharge, son of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, will contest from Chitapur (SC).

The party's central election committee cleared the first list of candidates after a meeting in Delhi on 17 March. The committee is chaired by Congress chief Kharge. Rahul Gandhi was also present at the meeting.

The Congress is the first party to release its candidates' list for the elections in Karnataka.

The Election Commission has not yet announced the schedule for assembly polls in the southern state but is expected to do so within the next week.

Assembly polls in Karnataka are slated before May when the tenure of the current assembly ends.

Congress legislature party leader Siddaramaiah said later today that he wants to contest from Kolar too along with Varuna, if the party agrees.

'I had said, it is left for the high command to decide (regarding the constituency). High Command has asked me to contest from Varuna. I have said, I will contest from two constituencies, from Kolar and here, again it is left to the high command'.

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, he said, his son Yathindra will not be contesting from any constituency.

The Congress has not yet announced any candidate for the Kolar seat, and also Badami, which Siddaramaiah currently represents.

According to some party functionaries, Siddaramaiah, in the event of winning from both the seats, plans to vacate the Varuna seat, and field Yathindra from there in the subsequent bypolls.

However, there were reports last week that Congress leadership including Rahul Gandhi, during the party's Central Election Committee meeting, had advised Siddaramaiah not to contest from Kolar, which is said to be “risky” for him.

The former Karnataka CM had already announced that the 2023 Assembly polls will be his last, and that he would not contest from his former Chamundeshwari constituency in Mysuru.

As the then sitting Chief Minister, he lost the 2018 polls in Chamundeshwari to JD(S) G T Deve Gowda by 36,042 votes.

He, however, won from Badami, defeating B Sriramulu of the BJP by a narrow margin of 1,696 votes.

(With inputs from PTI).