One more member of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda's family is entering electoral politics, with his grandson Suraj Revanna finding a place in the JD(S) list of candidates announced on Wednesday for the December 10 Legislative Council polls.
Suraj, a doctor, son of Gowda's elder son HD Revanna, is the JD(S) candidate from Hassan local authorities’ seat, which is the family bastion. This marks the entry of the eighth member from Gowda's family into politics.
Revanna is a former minister and MLA from Holenarsipura, while his wife Bhavani was a member of the Hassan Zilla Panchayat. Suraj's brother Prajwal is a member of Parliament from Hassan Lok Sabha segment. Gowda, who is the JD(S) supremo, is also a member of Rajya Sabha from Karnataka, while his other son, HD Kumaraswamy, is a former CM and MLA from Channapatna.
Kumaraswamy's wife Anitha is the MLA from Ramanagara segment, and his son Nikhil, who is the JD(S) youth wing president, had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Mandya. If Suraj wins this poll from Hassan, the Gowda family will have its members in all four major houses of public representatives — Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council.
The biennial election to the Karnataka Legislative Council from 20 local authorities' constituencies for 25 seats, due to the retirement of sitting members, will be held on December 10. However, JD(S) has fielded only seven candidates for the polls.
The candidates other than Suraj are N Appajigowda (Mandya), Anil Kumar R (Tumakuru), CN Manjegowda (Mysuru), Vakkaleri Ramu (Kolar), HM Ramesh Gowda (Bengaluru Rural) and HU Isak Khan (Kodagu).
Speaking to reporters after the list of candidates was released, Kumaraswamy said that the party has fielded candidates only in select seats, as it cannot concentrate on all the seats in a short period of time. "Based on the suggestions from our local leaders and workers, we have decided to field candidates for seven MLC seats. We wanted to contest only in these seats, give a fight and see to it that we win them. Last time, we won in four seats and this time, our aim is to increase that tally," he said.
The election is necessitated as the term of office of the 25 MLCs is going to end on January 5, 2022. The BJP and Congress have already announced their candidates. Tuesday (November 23) is the last date for filing nomination papers, and scrutiny will take place on November 24. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is November 26, and the counting of votes will take place on December 14.
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