Our correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
BENGALURU, May 30: The three official candidates of the ruling Congress party – Oscar Fernandes, Jairam Ramesh (both former Union Ministers) and retired IPS officer K C Ramamurthy as well as JD(S) candidate B M Farooq, Mangalore-based businessman, filed their nomination papers for the ensuing biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha from the Karnataka Assembly on Monday.
However, BJP candidate and Union Minister for State Commerce NirmalaSitharaman, who has replaced Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu at the last minute, would be filing her papers on Tuesday.
Incidentally, Tuesday is the last date for filing nomination papers.
The elections promises to be interesting with all three major political parties deciding to field their candidates.
The ruling Congress party in a position to bag three out of the four seats if it manages clinch the support of independents as well as members of smaller parties.
Nominations for Council Polls
In the biennial elections to seven seats of the Legislative Council from the Legislative Assembly, State youth Congress president Rizwan Arshad and former Kodagu ZillaPanchayat president Veena Achaiah of the Congress have filed papers on Monday.
Two other Congress candidates - AllumVeerabhadrappa and former minister R B Thimmapur – will be filing their nomination papers on Tuesday, the last day for filing papers.
Former legislator K V Narayanaswamy and S M Venkatapathy of the JD(S) have also filed their papers on Monday.
Expecting the support of the BJP, the JD(S) fielded DrVenkatapathy as the party’s second candidate in the Council polls.
Soon after the Congress Legislature Party meeting, Home Minister and KPCC president Dr G Parameshwara, Energy Minister D K Shivakumar and other ministers accompanied the party candidates to file nomination papers.
The number of votes required to win a candidate in Rajya Sabha is pegged at 45 while the number of votes required to win a candidate in the Council elections is 29.
Scrutiny of nominations would take place on June 1 while June 3 is the last day for withdrawal of nominations.
Elections to the Legislative Council seats would be held on June 10, while polling to Rajya Sabha seats would be held on June 11.