Bharatiya Janata Party Releases a List of 72 Candidates for Karnataka Elections

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has released the first list of its candidates contesting the upcoming assembly elections to be held on May 12. According to a report in The Indian Express, the first list figures candidates fighting for 72 out of the 224 seats of the state assembly. The list was released after BJP’s Central Election Committee met on April 8, in New Delhi. The meet was presided by party’s national president Amit Shah. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj were also reportedly present for the meeting.

As the Express report notes, the list of 72 candidates has only two women candidates: Shashikala Jolle from Athani constituency in Belgaum district and Roopali Naik from the Karwar constituency in Uttara Kannada district. Jolle is presently the sitting member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. She was elected in the 2013 elections from Nipani constituency.

According to a report in Prajavani – a Kannada daily, B. Sriramulu is also named as a candidate from Molakalmuru constituency. B.S Yeddyurappa – the chief ministerial candidate of the party will be contesting from Shikaripura (Shimoga district). Sriramulu represents Bellary constituency in Lok Sabha and was the health and family welfare minister in the government of Karnataka till September 2011. He, along with G Janardhana Reddy and B.S yeddyurappa, had been accused in the infamous Bellary mining scam by the Karnataka Lokayukta. This had led to the resignation of Yeddyurappa, who was the chief minister then and Reddy, who was the minister for tourism and infrastructure and a Bellary district in-charge minister.

Sreeramulu and Yeddyurappa had stepped out of the BJP, and had formed their own parties: Karnataka Janata Paksha or KJP in 2012, and Badavara Shramikara Raitara Congress or BSR Congress Party in 2011 respectively. In 2013 state assembly elections, Yeddyurappa’s KJP had bagged 9.79 per cent of the vote share, having won 6 seats in the assembly. The BSR Congress Party had bagged 2.69 per cent of the vote share as it managed to grab 4 seats. According to a report in The Economic Times, the exit of both these members from the party had divided the total vote share of BJP, which was 19.89 per cent with 40 seats.

In 2014, ahead of Lok Sabha elections, Both KJP and BSR Congress merged with the BJP. Reports, at that time, had said that this merger would strengthen the BJP. However, K.P. Suresh, a columnist and an activist based in Mysore, speaking to Newsclick, pointed out that, the case of Bellary mining scam has been hanging freely, even though Yeddyurappa was acquitted by the CBI court. According to Suresh, Yeddyurappa’s acquittal does not mean the issue has been resolved. As a report in The Hindu notes, senior leaders of the BJP including Sushma Swaraj were opposed to the idea of the merger of BSR Congress with the BJP, due to the corruption allegations raised against Sreeramulu.

The major political parties contesting the upcoming elections are Congress, BJP and Janata Dal (Secular). These parties saw many leaders migrating to the other parties. According to the Prajavani report, D. Shivraj Patil, Manappa Vajjal, Mallikarjuna Khuba and Subhash Guttedar have left JD(S); Mallikayya Guttedar left the Congress. C.P Yogishwar, the sitting MLA, from the BSP; P Rajeev, T.H Sureshbabu from the BSR Congress, and Shrinivas Shetty, who was an independent candidate, have joined BJP. They have found a place in the first list of the candidates released by the party.