Bangalore: Congress chief of D K Shivakumar said that the Congress Election Committee (CEC) will be releasing its second list of candidates for the Assembly elections scheduled in the State.
Today's meeting of the party's Central Election Committee will be followed by the announcement of the candidates' names, said Shivakumar in a statement on Wednesday.
Speaking with reporters, Shivakumar said: "(CEC) will convene once more tomorrow. We're finishing it up, and we'll announce a list as soon as possible ". Although having named candidates for 124 of the seats, the party has yet to do so for the other 100.
Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of the Congress, announced on Tuesday that the party would hold a thorough discussion over candidates for the remaining 100 State seats. Former chief minister Siddaramaiah and state party president DK Shivakumar were on the Congress' initial list of 124 candidates for the elections, which was released on March 25. Karnataka will hold its elections on May 10 in a single phase, and the results will be tallied on May 13.
Siddaramaiah will run from the Kanakapura district, while DK Shivakumar will run from the Varuna district. Siddaramaiah had expressed interest in running for office from the Kolar district, but the Congress High Command told him to abandon the idea after disputes between the party's local leaders in the district. M Roopakala, a candidate for the party in the Kolar Gold Field district, is running.
A massive crowd of Congress workers protested outside the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee office in Bengaluru on Monday and Tuesday in demand of election tickets for their leaders. With 224 Assembly seats, Karnataka now has 119 members of the governing BJP, 75 members of the opposition Congress, and 28 members of the JD(S).
Political groups in the State, including the incumbent BJP, the opposition Congress, and the ally JD(S), are exchanging accusations and denials, with the latter trying to put the government in the corner over the corruption issue.
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