This time it will be Akbar, Diwan Ali’s brother, contesting on a JD(S) ticket, the same party that his brother had won from in the March 2010 elections.
Sources in JD(S) said it was almost certain that Akbar would get the ticket, given that there are about 28,000 Muslim votes in the ward and also that MLA Zameer Ahmed has been given the responsibility of picking a candidate. The sympathy factor for Diwan Ali would also prove helpful for Akbar, the sources said.
Necessitating the by-election was Diwan Ali’s murder in January this year on the streets of Yarabnagar, which is part of the ward and where Diwan Ali’s family lives.
Akbar, who had told Deccan Herald in January that he wants to leave the City and go “far away from all this,” on Friday said: “I am still scared and that is why I have two gunmen from the police department with me. But I have to continue the task which my brother could not complete –– serving the people.”
“It is not easy to walk around with people protecting you,” he said, adding that his family was yet to recover from the shock of his brother’s death. “We live in fear.”
Asked whether the sympathy over his brother’s murder would help him win the elections, Akbar said: “No, my brother’s work will help me win.”
Akbar had contested the ZP polls from Kanakapura and came second. While the Congress candidate garnered about 12,000 votes, Akbar had got 7,500.
He claimed that his brother was instrumental in as many as 7,000 people availing pensions, another 1,750 people getting title deeds and also that he had helped the ward, reeling under water shortage, get borewells and tanks.
Akbar said he would most likely file his nomination on Tuesday or Wednesday, although contestants are allowed to file it from Monday.
The polls are scheduled for June 26. The BJP is almost certainly fielding Basavaraj, who, on victory, is tipped to be the next mayor.