Campaigning for bypolls in three seats ends

The high-voltage public campaigning for the August 21 bypolls to three Assembly constituencies in the State concluded on Tuesday evening.

It is a direct fight between the Congress and the BJP in all the three constituencies and both parties seem to have taken the outcome of the polls as a prestige issue, given the intensity with which the leaders campaigned during the last one week.

The JD(S) has not fielded its candidates in the three constituencies.

The ruling Congress is keen to make a clean sweep in the bypolls.
The BJP, on the other hand, having performed well in the Lok Sabha polls, wants to keep the momentum going, setting the stage for its revival at the Assembly level.

Three constituencies

Of the three constituencies, one (Chikodi-Sadalga) is held by the Congress and two (Shikaripura and Bellary Rural) by the BJP (considering that former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa who won the Shikaripura seat on a KJP ticket and former minister B Sriramulu who won the Bellary Rural seat on a BSR Congress ticket joined the BJP).

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, several of his Cabinet colleagues, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president G Parameshwara, former chief ministers B S Yeddyurappa, Jagadish Shettar, BJP State president Pralhad Joshi, former deputy chief minister K S Eshwarappa had campaigned intensively in the three segments.

Shikaripura constituency is witnessing a direct fight between former MP and son of Yeddyurappa, B Y Raghavendra of the BJP, and H S Shanthaveerappa Gowda of the Congress.

Nine in the fray

In Bellary, the fight is between Obalesh of the BJP and N Y Gopalakrisha of the Congress. Kavatagimath Mahantesh Mallikarjun (BJP) and Ganesh Prakash Hukkeri (Congress), son of former minister Prakash Hukkeri and the present MP of Chikodi, are among the nine candidates in the fray in  Chikkodi-Sadalga.
The counting of votes will be held on August 25.