Curtains will come down on Thursday morning (7 a.m.) for public campaigning for elections to zilla panchayat and taluk panchayats in 15 districts in the State.
As per the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act, public campaigning for rural local bodies ends 48 hours before commencement of polling. Polling would be held on Saturday.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President G. Parameshwara, BJP leaders Pralhad Joshi, B.S. Yeddyurppa, and Jagadish Shettar, and JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy were prominent among those who actively campaigned for their respective party candidates.
A total of 2,087 candidates are in the fray for 550 ZP seats and 6,288 candidates for 1,945 TP seats. Independents are in the fray in 517 ZP constituencies.
The districts that are going to polls in the first phase are: Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagaram, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Kolar, Chickballapur, Shivamogga, Tumakuru, Belagavi, Haveri, Bagalkot, Uttara Kannada, Dharwad, and Gadag.
Officials of the State Election Commission said that two ZP and 11 TP candidates have been elected unopposed.
A total of 6,288 candidates are in the fray for 1,934 TP seats in 15 districts that would go to polls on Saturday.
The Congress has fielded candidates in 1,927 constituencies, BJP in 1,942 and JD(S) in 1,133 constituencies. Independents are in the fray in 1,188 constituencies.
Another 15 districts would go to polls in the second phase on February 20.
Assembly
Campaign in the three Assembly constituencies Hebbal, Devadurga, and Bidar, which would face by-polls on Saturday, would end on Thursday evening.
