Bypolls: 45 in fray, including three women, after withdrawal of nominations

A total of 45 candidates are in the fray for the bypolls in three constituencies - Shiggaon, Sandur, and Channapatna - polling for which will be held on November 13, after the last date for the withdrawal of nominations on Wednesday. 

Prominent among the 45 candidates are Nikhil Kumaraswamy (JD-S) and C.P. Yogeshwar (Congress) in Channapatna, Bharath Bommai (BJP) and Pathan Yasir Ahmed Khan (Congress) in Shiggaon, and E. Annapoorna (Congress) and Bangara Hanumantha (BJP) in Sandur.

Of the 121 sets of nominations received in the three constituencies filed by 83 candidates, papers filed by 64 candidates were found to be valid after scrutiny by the deadline on October 25. Of these, a total of 19 withdrew from the contest by Wednesday, the last date for withdrawal

According to the final list of candidates shared by the Election Commission, three of the 45 candidates are women. While two women candidates registered unrecognised political parties are contesting from Channapatna, one is contesting from the Indian National Congress in Sandur.

At 31, the highest number of candidates in the fray are from Channapatna where seven aspirants have withdrawn. This constituency is followed by Shiggaon where eight candidates are in the fray while 11 aspirants have withdrawn. In Sandur, while six candidates are contesting, one aspirant has withdrawn.

Khadri withdraws

In Shiggaon, the 11 aspirants who withdrew included Congress rebel candidate and former MLA Sayed Azeem Peer Khadri.

A day after having announcing that he would withdraw his nomination, Mr. Khadri seemed to be in a dilemma as his followers were pressuring him to contest. However, senior Congress leaders, including Housing Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan, managed to convince him to withdraw from the fray. Mr. Khan and other Muslim leaders had travelled with Mr. Khadri to Shiggaon on Tuesday night.

After the scrutiny, 19 nominations out of 26 nominations were found valid and nominations of seven including another Congress rebel and former MP Manjunath Kunnur were declared invalid.

Published - October 30, 2024 09:59 pm IST