With the Election Commission of India (EC) on Tuesday announcing the schedule for byelections to two Karnataka Legislative Assembly constituencies of Sira and Rajarajeshwarinagar and four Legislative Council seats, poll fever is set to hit Karnataka amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
While bypolls to the two Assembly constituencies will be held on November 3, bypolls to four seats of the legislative council will be on October 28.
With this, all three major political parties in the State are getting ready for the battle in the next two months. While the Opposition Congress has announced the candidature of former Minister T.B. Jayachandra for the Sira seat, ruling BJP and Opposition JD(S) have not yet announced their nominees.
Bypolls in Sira was necessitated following the death of B. Sathyanarayana, JD(S) MLA, and in Rajarajeshwarinagar owing to the resignation of Munirathna, who was elected as Congress MLA in 2018 and quit the party and joined the BJP along with 13 other Congress and three JD(S) MLAs last year.
Byelections to the Rajarajeshwarinagar constituency was withheld owing to the pending election malpractice case. The election malpractice case related to Maski constituency in Raichur is also pending.
The EC announced the calendar of events after considering various factors such as local festivals, weather, movement of forces, and the pandemic. While October 16 is the last day for filing nominations, the scrutiny of papers will take place on October 17. The last day for withdrawal of nominations is October 19. Counting of votes will be on November 10. Electoral roll of January 1, 2020, is applicable to both constituencies. The model code of conduct came into effect on Tuesday in Bengaluru Urban and Tumakuru districts.
Council polls
Elections to two Graduates Constituencies – South East and Karnataka West; and two Teachers Constituencies – North East and Bengaluru, will be held on October 28.
The last date for filing nominations is October 8 and the scrutiny of papers will be on October 9. The last day for withdrawal of nominations is October 12. Counting of votes will be on November 2. The model code of conduct came into effect on Tuesday in these constituencies.
Four seats became vacant after R. Chowda Reddy Toopahalli, Sharanappa Mattur, S.V. Sankanur, and Puttanna retired on June 30. Considering the unforeseen situation of public health emergency due to COVID-19, and guidelines and order issued under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the EC said it had deferred the elections earlier.
