The early announcement of the biennial elections to the Karnataka Legislative Council from the graduates and teachers constituencies, following the expiry of the terms of four members, has caught the candidates, aspiring candidates and MLCs off guard.
The Election Commission’s announcement about issue of notification on May 16 and the model code of conduct for the elections coming to force with immediate effect has upset the plans of the candidates. It was expected that the elections would be held around June 20 to 23. But to the surprise of most, polling has now been scheduled for June 9.
Summer holidays
Summer holidays have added to the woes of the candidates. Because of holidays, it will be difficult to find teachers in one place. Although schools will reopen on June 1, candidates will have just a week’s time for the final campaign. And considering that it is a “spread out” electorate, it will be a Herculean task for the candidates to reach out to all the voters within limited time.
“We had set our plans keeping June 20 as the polling day. But now we are forced to cover as many places as possible as we are short of 10 days,” said a candidate who began his campaign six months ago.
Preparations
Unlike the Legislative Assembly elections, preparations for the Council polls from the graduates and teachers constituencies begin almost a year in advance, first with registration of the voters. New graduates and teachers with a minimum of three years of experience are eligible to register themselves as voters and aspiring candidates get their acquaintances registered.
Terms end on July 4
The terms of Mahantesh Shivanand Koujalagi (Karnataka North-West Graduates constituency), G. Madhusudhan (Karnataka South Graduates constituency), Arun Shahapur (Karnataka North-West Teachers constituency) and Basavaraj Horatti (Karnataka West Teachers constituency) are coming to an end on July 4.
