Bypolls: 3 contestants withdraw nominations

Three candidates — one from Nanjangud and two from Gundlupet Assembly constituencies — withdrew their nomination papers, on Friday, the last day for withdrawal from the byelection, scheduled for April 9.

As many as 12 candidates from Nanjangud Assembly (reserved) constituency and nine from Gundlupet constituency had filed nominations. While Devanahalli Malanna, who submitted papers to contest from Nanjangud constituency, stepped back, independent candidates P S Yeddyurappa and B C Shekar, who had filed papers from Gundlupet, withdrew their nominations.

With the withdrawals, 11 candidates, including, Kalale N Keshavamurthy from Congress and former minister V Srinivas Prasad from BJP, are in the fray in the Nanjangud Assembly segment. Nine candidates, including Congress candidate and wife of late minister H S Mahadev Prasad, Geetha Prasad, and BJP’s C S Niranjan Kumar, are in the fray in Gundlupet constituency.

Other candidates in the fray are: M Honnuraiah from Bharatiya Dr B R Ambedkar Janata Party, M Shivaraju from Republican Party of India, Independents K Somashekar, B Mahadevprasad and M Shivaramu in Gundlupet.