The Congress is facing the sting of rebellion in at least 20 constituencies, with one party MLA and three ZP members and eight office-bearers of various units of the party in the fray either as Independents or having a tacit understanding with rival parties.
In Tarikere constituency in Chikkamagaluru, G.H. Srinivas, incumbent MLA, who has been denied ticket by the Congress, is fighting elections as an Independent. Mr. Srinivas, who is from the Kuruba community, is expected to give a fight to S.M. Nagaraju, former MLA (Lingayat) of the Congress. D.S. Suresh of the BJP and T.H. Shivashankarappa of the JD(S) are other contenders in the fray.
In Navalgund in Dharwad Rural, City Municipal Councillor Raghavendra Shankarappa Teradal is in the fray as Independent. Three ZP members of the Congress are also contesting as Independents in Gubbi, Tiptur, and Belagavi Rural constituencies and posing a challenge to the official party nominees.
Eight office-bearers of party units at various levels are also in the fray as rebel candidates in Hanur, Kudachi, Hukkeri, Navalgund, Arkalgud, Ranebennur, Raichur Rural, and Maski. However, the party leaders maintained that rebel candidates don’t have much presence in their constituencies and they would not decide the poll outcome.
Out of 224 constituencies, the Congress has fielded candidates in 222 constituencies. It has no candidates in two constituencies — Mulbagal and Melkote. In Pulakeshinagar in Bengaluru and Pavagada, party ticket aspirants joined rival JD(S) and the BJP, respectively. Some of the incumbent MLAs who have been denied ticket too are found supporting candidates of rival parties.
In Mulbagal, nomination of the Congress candidate Kothur G. Manjunatha was rejected citing a High Court judgment which set aside his 2013 Assembly election win. In Melkote, the party has extended support to Darshan Puttanaiah, son of the late MLA and farmers’ leader K.S. Puttanaiah.
