JD(S) not to contest in three wards

The JD (S), which was supposed to release the final list of candidates for the BBMP polls, managed to find contestants for only 75 wards on Monday.

The party will be contesting only in 195 of the 198 wards. Since there was no unanimity among the leaders and workers, the party is forgoing election in three wards - C V Raman Nagar, Kempapura Agrahara, and Hongasandra.

The party had last week announced the list of 120 candidates. Following hectic parleys and heated debates even until the last minute, party leaders, including H D Deve Gowda, H D Kumaraswamy and MLA B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan, decided to let go of the three wards.

Following the finalisation of the list, Kumaraswamy told the media that the party would release ward-wise manifestos comprising details of the candidates, problems in the ward and solutions to the same. It will also release a 32-page booklet on its vision for a better Bengaluru.

In the 2010 elections, the party had won only 15 seats. With 50 per cent of the seats reserved for women, it has given tickets to the wives of two MLAs and two former corporators. As many as 101 women and 36 members of the minority communities have bagged the party tickets. All the candidates filed their nominations on Monday.