Fourteen candidates are in the fray for the September 13 by-elections for Gulbarga south, where former Chief Minister N Dharam Singh’s son Ajay Singh is making an electoral debut, and Kadur Legislative Assembly constituencies.
The stage is thus set for a triangular fight between the ruling BJP, the Congress and JDS. Saturday was the last day for withdrawal of papers.
The bypoll was necessitated following the death of Chandrashekar Patil Revoor (BJP) in Gulbarga South, and K M Krishnamurthy of Congress in Kadur in Chikamagalur district.
The BJP has fielded MLC Shashil G Namoshi in Gulbarga South, denying a ticket to Revoor’s wife Aruna Patil, who was an aspirant, leading to some heartburn among a section of supporters of the late MLA.
JDS, which was not considered a force to reckon with in Gulbarga south, then plumped for Aruna Patil.
So it would now be a fight between Ajay Singh, who has been the poll manager of his father now a Lok Sabha member from Bidar, Namoshi, who is no light-weight, and Ms. Aruna Patil, banking on her husband’s “legacy” and “sympathy vote“.
There are a total of 11 candidates in Gulbarga south, including JDU’s Mohammed Qasim.
In Kadur, there are no independents and the contest would be between Dr. Vishwanath (BJP), K M Kemparaju (Congress) and Y S V Datta (JDS).
JDS is nursing a lot of hopes in Kadur as Datta, MLC and party spokesman, had lost the May 2008 elections to Krishnamurthy by a margin of only about 3000 votes.
