All the three parties and the supporters of independent MLA Varthur Prakash have begun hectic activities ahead of the polls, which are supposed to be apolitical and cannot be fought on party symbols.
The BJP is hoping to continue its winning streak, after it had bagged the Bangarpet Assembly seat in the byelection. The party had come second in the Zilla Panchayat (ZP) and Taluk Panchayat (TP) elections.
The JD(S) which was in the first place in the ZP and TP polls and the Congress which was relegated to the third spot are trying hard to make a mark in the APMC polls. The BJP is trying to take advantage of Varthur Prakash’s support to the party.
Cong-JD(S) alliance?
There are questions doing the rounds on whether the Congress and JD(S) will have an alliance for the APMC polls, what strategy Prakash adopts to counter JD(S) and his bete noire Srinivasagowda and what will be the tactics of K Srinivasagowda of the JD(S) in his bid to outdo the supporters of K H Muniyappa, the union minister and his rival.
The BJP will be a serious contender in the APMC polls this time in all taluks, including Srinivaspur.
The party’s district unit president N Lakshmaiah said that their good show in the bypoll and the Suvarna Bhoomi scheme being implemented by their party’s government in the State would help them.
While being confident of doing well in Bangarpet, Malur and KGF, Lakshmaiah said Srinivaspur and Mulbagal were a challenge to them. District Congress committee chief M L Anil Kumar said block level meetings would be held to chalk out strategies for the polls.
JD(S) sources said that their strategies would be based on the movements of the rival parties.
Poll schedule
The elections to the APMCs in Kolar, Bangarpet, Malur, KGF, Srinivaspur and Mulbagal taluks will be held on July 17. The poll notification will be issued on June 25, while the last date for filing the papers will be July 2. The papers will be scrutinised on July 4 and the last date for withdrawing the papers is July 6. The counting of votes will be held on July 19.
The elections will be conducted to 11 agriculture constituencies, one processing constituency and one co-operation constituency.
