Bengaluru, Mar 16 (IANS): By-elections to a Lok Sabha seat and 2 Assembly seats in Karnataka would be held on April 17 and votes will be counted on May 2, an official said on Tuesday.

"The Election Commission has announced the by-elections on April 17 to fill vacancies caused by the death of sitting members in Belgaum Lok Sabha constituency and Basavakalyan Assembly constituency and resignation in Maski (ST) Assembly constituency," a poll official told IANS here.

As per the schedule, the notification will be issued on March 23, the last date of nominations will be March 30, scrutiny will take place on March 31, and last date for withdrawal of nominations is April 3.

The Belgaum seat was held by Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi, 65, who died of Covid on September 23, 2020 in New Delhi.

Congress legislator B. Narayan Rao, who won from Basavakalyan in Bidar district in May 2018 Assembly elections, died of Covid on September 24, 2020 at a private hospital in Bengaluru.

Congress rebel MLA Pratap Gowda Patil resigned from Maski (ST) in Raichur district in July 2019 and defected to the ruling BJP along with 13 other party legislators, which led to the fall of the 14-month-old JD-S-Congress coalition government on July 23, 2019.