Council polls: Cong, BJP fail to persuade rebel candidates

As many as 125 candidates vie for 25 local bodies seats

 On the last day of withdrawal of candidatures for the Legislative Council elections from local bodies constituencies, both national parties - the Congress and the BJP - made unsuccessful bids to cajole and convince their rebel candidates to withdraw their nominations.

The JD(S) leadership, which was grappling rebellion in three key constituencies, however, succeeded in convincing the rebels to withdraw their nominations.

As per the information provided by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), after withdrawal of nominations, a total of 125 candidates are in the fray - Congress (21), BJP (20), JD-S (18), Others (6) and Independents (60). There are 117 male candidates in the fray while eight women are seeking entry into Council. As many as 43 candidates have withdrawn their nominations. Of which, 41 candidates are Independents. The total seats contested are 25. The polling date is December 27 and counting of votes would be on December 30.
Cong rebels adamant

The Congress, will be facing rebellion from three of its partymen, who have entered the fray as rebels in Dakshina Kannada and Bengaluru. Former minister, Jayaprakash Hegde, is yet again entering the fray without a party banner from Dakshina Kannada constituency. He is upset that the Congress gave the ticket to sitting MLC Pratapchandra Shetty. The party leadership, including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, have failed to convince Hegde to withdraw his candidature.

Another party worker, K Hari Krishna, a close aide of senior party leader Janardhan Poojary, too is contesting against the party candidate as an Independent from the same seat.

Sitting MLC Dayanand Reddy is contesting as an Independent from Bengaluru, despite the efforts made by KPCC president G Parameshwara and Energy Minister D K Shivakumar to convince him to withdraw his candidature. The party has fielded PCC member and a first-timer M Narayanswamy from the seat.

BJP expels rebel Patil

The BJP was faced with rebellion in Vijayapura. As party rebel Basanagouda Patil Yatnal failed to withdraw his candidature, BJP has expelled him for six years for anti-party activities . The party has fielded Gurulingappa Sangappa Nyamagoud from the seat.

All’s well in JD(S)

Father-son duo H D Deve Gowda and H D Kumaraswamy have succeeded in pacifying rebel candidates in three constituencies - Mysuru, Mandya and Kolar.

The party had fielded Sandesh Nagaraj, Appaji Gowda and C R Manohar for Mysuru, Mandya and Kolar constituencies respectively.

Vexed sitting MLC from B Ramakrishna (backed by MLA N Cheluvarayaswamy) in Mandya,  JD(S) corporator R Ravindra Kumar in Mysuru, and Kochimul director and spouse of Kolar ZP president K Y Nanjegowda had filed nominations as Independent.

However, all three have withdrawn their candidatures.
While Gowda convinced both Ramakrishna and Cheluvarayaswamy on his return from New Delhi on Friday night, Kumaraswamy succeeded in cajoling Nanjegowda. Mysuru MLAs G T Deve Gowda and Sa Ra Mahesh convinced Ravindra.