Poll battle for Hangal and Sindhgi constituencies in Karnataka is heating up as the BJP announced its candidates on Tuesday.
While Ramesh Bhusanur, who came second behind MC Managuli in the 2018 polls. is BJP candidate from Sindhgi, Shivaraj Sajjanar is a candidate from Hangal constituency.
Both the Congress and JD(S) had announced their candidates earlier. Congress is fielding Ashok Managuli, son of former Sindhgi MLA from JD(S) MC Managuli at Sindhgi and Srinivas V Mane at Hangal.
JD(S) was the first to announce candidates from both the constituencies and fielded 33-year old Naziya Shakeel Ahmed from Sindhgi and Niyaz Shaik from Hangal, much to the chagrin of Congress who have targeted the regional party for 'dividing minority votes'.
Ramesh is a two-time MLA from Sindhgi and had lost to MC Managuli of JD(S) in 2018. Managuli passed away earlier this year due to age-related complications. The constituency has witnessed neck-to-neck contests between BJP and JD(S) in the last three general elections, with Congress relegated to the third position. This time around, Congress is plotting to ride the sympathy wave by fielding Ashok Managuli.
Election in Hangal was necessitated due to the demise of senior BJP leader CM Udasi. Though Revati Udasi, daughter-in-law of the former MLA, was pitted to be the front-runner for the BJP ticket, the party high command picked Shivaraj, a former MLA. He had also contested from a KJP ticket in 2013 when former CM BS Yediyurappa split from BJP and launched his own regional outfit.
The bypolls are considered to be a prestige battle for Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who is facing his first electoral challenge after being appointed CM in July this year. Moreover, Hangal is a neighbouring constituency of Shiggaon.
Nominations
All the candidates are expected to file nominations by Friday, October 8, the last day for nominations.
Polls are scheduled for October 30 and results are scheduled to be out on November 2.