From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bangalore, Dec 16: Election campaigning for the 23 seats in the Karnataka Legislative Council from 19 local authorities’ constituencies from different districts ended at 4 pm on Wednesday. Polling for the crucial biennial elections will be held on December 18, Friday.
With two sitting members – K Srinivas Poojary of BJP and Pratapchandra Shetty of Congress – already getting elected unopposed from the undivided Dakshina Kannada district, as many as 93 candidates are in the fray for the remaining 23 seats.
Counting will be held on December 21, the day when both houses of state legislature are scheduled to resume their winter session which was adjourned after passing the obituary references on December 14.
The absence of more than two candidates in the dual-member Dakshina Kannada district, which resulted in both candidates being declared elected unopposed on the last day for withdrawal of nomination papers, had resulted in a saving of Rs 20 lakh to the Election Commisson, according to officials.
The elections to the state’s Upper House is crucial as the strength of the ruling BJP and the principal opposition party, the Congress, are presently tied at 28 seats each in the 75-member opposition dominated house.
Incidentally, as many as 19 of the retiring members are from Congress while there were barely 4 members belonging to BJP. The ruling party had to concede the Council chairman’s post to Congressman Veeranna Mathikatti, while the deputy chairman’s post is held by the JD(S).
Given keen tussel among the three major political players – BJP, Congress and JD(S) – to win the maximum number of seats and thereby wrest control and the pre-poll seat-sharing arrangement between the opposition Congress and JD(S), there have been widespread complaints regarding the attempts by the ruling party to woo the elected representatives of grama, taluk and zilla panchayats and allegations on holding them captive in hotels and resorts, the officials of the Election Commission maintained that no such incidents had come to their notice.
They contended that the Deputy Commissioner of Dharwad district, which has in the news regarding such allegations, had reported that 93 members gathered at two private hotels to attend a marriage function and the Renuka Yellamma temple fair in the district.
The CEO’s office has not received any confirmed report of kidnapping of members of local bodies in Bellary or other districts as alleged by the Congress and JD (S) leaders, the officials told presspersons here on Wednesday.
The Congress party had urged the Election Commission to take steps to ensure free and fair elections following reports of panchayat members being kept in hotels and resorts allegedly by the BJP.
A total of 21 candidates of the ruling BJP, 16 of the Congress, eight of the JD (S), one each of the Janata Dal (United) and Kannada Vatal Paksha are in the fray. The JD (S) and Congress have entered into an electoral understanding with an aim to defeat the BJP.
There will be direct contest between BJP and Congress in Bidar, Chikmagalur and Bangalore Urban districts while triangular contest between Congress, JD (S) and BJP is on cards in five districts - Raichur, Chitradurga, Hassan, Tumkur, Mandya.
A total of 44 Independent candidates are in the fray.
The JD (U) has fielded its candidates in Dharwad while Kannada Vatal Paksha leader Vatal Nagaraj has entered into the fray from Mysore.
Though there are two seats each in Mysore and Belgaum constituencies, the BJP has fielded only one candidate in both constituencies.
Constituency-wise candidates in the fray are: Bidar – two, Belgaum and Gulbarga – six each, Uttara Kannada – four, Dharwad – eight, Raichur, Hassan, Tumkur, Mandya, Kodagu and Chitradurga– 3 each, Bellary six, Bangalore Rural, Kolar and Shimgoa – five each, Bangalore Urban and Chikmagalur – two each, Mysore – 13 and Bijapur 11.