The elections to four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka are set to be unanimous with no political party fielding an additional candidate. The Congress and the JD(S) are fielding political heavyweights while the BJP has nominated two low-profile party workers.
On Tuesday, BJP candidates Eranna Kadadi and Ashok Gasti, as well as JD(S) candidate and former Prime Minster H.D. Deve Gowda, filed their nomination papers. Congress candidate M. Mallikarjun Kharge filed his papers on Monday.
Mr. Gowda filed his papers in the presence of his two sons, former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and former Minister H.D. Revanna, and JD(S) State president H.K. Kumaraswamy. For Mr. Gowda, this will be his second Rajya Sabha entry; the first being in 1996 as Prime Minister.
With Tuesday being the last day for filing nominations, only five candidates, including one Independent (Sangamesh Chikkanaragunda), have filed papers. Mr. Chikkanaragunda’s nomination paper will be rejected during scrutiny on Wednesday since the required number of MLAs did not sign it at the time of filing, sources in the State Secretariat said.
Mr. Kadadi and Mr. Gasti, the BJP’s organisational in-charge leaders for Belagavi and Ballari zones, respectively, filed their nomination papers in the presence of Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, State BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel, Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi and other party leaders.
The elections are scheduled for June 19 to fill the four Rajya Sabha seats from the State, represented by Rajiv Gowda, B.K. Hariprasad (Congress), Prabhakar Kore, and D. Kupendra Reddy (JD-S), that will fall vacant on June 25 with their retirement.
