Cong to announce candidates for by-elections in 2 days

PTI, Sep 24, 2019, 4:46 PM IST

Bengaluru: Karnataka Congress will finalise the list of candidates for the October 21 bypolls for15 constituencies in the state in two days, its legislature party leader Siddaramaiah said on Tuesday.

The former Chief Minister also expressed confidence that Congress candidates will win all 15 constituencies and people would teach a lesson to those who have defected from the party.

“We are prepared for bypolls, in two days we will be declaring the candidates.

In all the fifteen constituencies we will contest separately,” Siddaramaiah said.

Speaking to reporters in Hubballi, he said, “We will win all the fifteen seats, because public opinion is that those who have defected from the party have to be defeated.

People will never tolerate defection, so people this time will vote for Congress candidates.”

By-elections to constituencies represented by 15 out of 17 disqualified former Congress-JD(S) legislators will be held on October 21 and results will be declared on October 24. Among 15 constituencies that will go for polls, 12 were represented by Congress and 3 by JD(S).

Absence and resignation of 17 Congress-JD(S) MLAs during the trust vote had led to the collapse of the H D Kumaraswamy headed coalition government in July, and helped BJP to come to power.

After examining the petition moved by leadership of both parties, the then Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar had disqualified 17 Congress and JD(S) MLAs and one independent under the anti-defection law, which they have challenged in the Supreme Court.

A bench of Justices N V Ramana, Sanjiv Khanna and Krishna Murari had on Monday said it would hear the pleas of disqualified MLAs on September 25.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission told the Supreme Court on Monday that former Karnataka Speaker’s order disqualifying 17 MLAs from the Assembly cannot deprive them of their right to contest the upcoming by-polls for 15 constituencies in the state.

The then Speaker Ramesh Kumar had ruled that those disqualified, cease to be MLAs with immediate effect till the expiry of the 15th assembly (in 2023).