Karnataka bypolls: Congress releases first list of eight candidates for 5 December election, says general secretary Mukul Wasnik

New Delhi: Congress on Thursday released a list of eight candidates for the upcoming by-elections in Karnataka scheduled to be conducted on 5 December. [caption id=“attachment_7582161” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] FIle image of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. News18[/caption] The candidates are – Bhimmanna Naik (Yellapur), BH Bannikod (Hirekerur), KB Koliwad (Rannebennur), M Anjanappa (Chikkaballapur), M Narayanswamy (KR Pura), M Shivaraj (Mahalakshmi), Padmavathi Suresh (Hoskote) and HP Manjunath (Hunsur). “Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi approved the proposal for the candidature of the following persons as party candidates for the ensuing by-elections to the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka,” party general secretary Mukul Wasnik said in a statement. Earlier, the bypolls in Karnataka were scheduled to be held on 21 October in 15 constituencies that were vacated by rebel MLAs of Congress and Janata Dal Secular (JDS). However, the election date was later shifted to 5 December by the Election Commission (EC). Counting of votes will take place on 9 December. The 15 Assembly constituencies which will go to polls are – Athani, Kagwad, Gokak, Yellapur, Hirekerur, Ranibennur, Vijayanagara, Chikkaballapur, KR Pura, Yeshvanthapura, Mahalakshmi, Shivajinagar, Hosakote, Krishnarajpet, and Hunsur. Polling will be conducted from 7 am to 6 pm on 5 December, the EC had said.