JD(S) finalises 189 candidates

Former chief minister and President of JD(S) in Karnataka, H D Kumarawamy on Sunday put the relative calm down to democracy and discipline within the party.

Addressing the media, after the announcement of the third list of JD(S) candidates for the BBMP election Kumaraswamy said the party workers were taken into confidence by ensuring their participation in discussions leading up to finalising candidates.

“We have been 95 per cent successful in taking party workers into confidence and 90 per cent of the tickets have been given to party workers and not to rich land developers,” he claimed.

However, he added that his party too had some dissidents who have by and large fallen in line. With the announcement of 39 candidates as part of the third list JD(S) has finalised contestants for 189 of the 198 wards. Kumaraswamy said that the remaining nine candidates too will be finalised by Monday.

“I know there have been media reports of some members with police cases being given tickets and large sums of money being traded for tickets. I will disclose records of the candidates and their assets soon,” he said.

He added that voters were fully aware of the record of candidates who were contesting and the JD(S) list will remove all doubts from their minds.  “Our list will not raise doubts about any of the candidates or the procedure of awarding tickets,” he said.