The selection of a candidate for the Kolar local body constituency in the upcoming elections to Legislative Council has become a tough task for the State Congress.
Two former Union ministers, Veerappa Moily and K H Muniyappa, are vying with each other for a ticket for their followers. While Moily wants Anil Kumar as the candidate, Muniyappa is batting for his follower N Ramesh. Though Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and KPCC chief G Parameshwara held a meeting on Monday, they could not finalise the candidate.
The KPCC chief has convened a meeting of the elected representatives of the party from the two districts on Tuesday at the KPCC main office to elicit their opinion.
The party is already facing rebellion from those who were denied tickets in Dakshina Kannada, Mandya and Bengaluru Urban districts. Party leader from Mandya A S Ravindra Srikantaiah has written to Parameshwara questioning the rationale behind fielding Shivarame Gowda from the Mandya seat. Gowda had joined the BJP in 2008 and later returned to the Congress.
He had openly stated that he was responsible for the defeat of party candidate Ramya in the 2014 parliamentary polls, he added in the letter.
JD(S) candidates The JD(S) finalised three more candidates on Monday. It has decided to give tickets to one former MLA and two first- time contestants.
Former legislator Mallikarjun Akki will be contesting from Hubballi-Dharwad, while businessmen-cum- politicians from Bengaluru, H P Subba Reddy and A V Vinod Kumar, have been given tickets to contest from Bidar and Kodagu, respectively.
The party had earlier given the ticket to Bengaluru-based businessman Naresh Kumar to contest from Kodagu. However, owing to his daughter’s sudden illness, Kumar has backed out from the race, paving the way for his relative Vinod Kumar.
In another development, JD(S) State president H D Kumaraswamy urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to ensure that no nominated member of the government to the town municipal councils, be allowed to vote during the MLC elections from the local authority constituencies on December 27.
Kumaraswamy has said only members from the urban local bodies, zilla, taluk, gram panchayats – democratically elected by the people – can alone vote in these elections.
Other than these members, nominated members cannot participate in the process of voting as specified under Article 243-R of the Constitution.
About five members are nominated by the government to every town municipal council, city municipal council and municipal corporation, with the number of TMCs varying from every other constituency. This would materially affect the result of the elections, he added.