K'taka polls: 2,613 candidates in fray, parties face rebel threat

A total of 2,613 candidates are in the poll fray, as the withdrawal of candidatures for the May 10 assembly elections in Karnataka came to an end on Monday, election officials said.

A total of 517 candidates have withdrawn their candidature till on Monday, even as parties faced "rebel trouble" in several segments.

Out of 2,613 candidates in the poll fray, 2,427 are male, 184 females and 2 others, office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka said.

Among the contesting candidates from recognised political parties -- 224 from BJP, 223 Congress (supporting Sarvodaya Karnataka Party in Melukote), 207 Janata Dal-Secular, 209 AAP, 133 Bahujan Samaj Party, 4 Communist Party of India-Marxist, 8 Janata Dal-United and 2 NPP.

While 685 are from Registered Unrecognised Political Parties, 918 are independents.

In 16 constituencies there are more than 15 candidates in the fray, so two ballot unit will be used in these segments during the poll.

Political parties made efforts till the last minute to ensure rebel candidates, who had filed nomination disgruntled over being denied tickets by their respective parties, to withdraw their papers.

In some cases, the parties were successful in convincing such candidates to withdraw, while "rebel trouble" loomed large on the electoral prospects of the official candidates in several constituencies.

The rebel trouble seems to be more in the case of Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress, compared to other parties.

According to party sources, Congress is facing rebel in Pulakeshinagar (Akhanda Srinivas Murthy), Harapanahalli (M P Latha Mallikarjun), Shirahatti (Ramakrishna Doddamani), Shikaripura (Nagaraj Gowda), Jagalur (H P Rajesh), Arakalagudu (Krishnegowda), among others.

In BJP rebel trouble is in - Puttur (Arun kumar Puttila), Afzalpur (Nitin Guttedar), Goolihatti Shekhar (Hosadurga), Bailhongal (Vishwanath Patil), Gundlupet (M P Sunil), Chennagiri (Madal Mallikarjun), Malur (Vijay Kumar), Gandhi Nagar (Krishnaiah Shetty), among others, party sources said.

Among those who have withdrawn as rebel candidates include - former Bengaluru Mayor -- Congress' Gangambike Mallikarjun from Chickpet, BJP's Mahadevappa Yadawad from Ramdurg.

The elections to the 224-member assembly will be held on May 10 and results will be declared on May 13.