Congress names 218 candidates for Karnataka polls; 107 of 122 sitting MLAs renominated 

Karnataka's ruling Congress on Sunday declared 218 candidates for the May 12 assembly elections, withholding names for remaining six seats of the 224-member house.

According to Congress General Secretary Mukul Wasnik, who released the list in the national capital, the candidates were selected by the party's Central Election Committee from the names its screening committee recommended after a two-day meeting in New Delhi on April 9-10. The party has re-nominated 107 of the 122 sitting MLAs.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, 69, will contest from Chamundeshwari in Mysuru, where he had contested seven times since 1983 and won five times.

Though he was re-elected from the adjacent Varuna seat in Mysuru district in the May 2013 assembly polls, the party high command has agreed to field his son Yatindra from his home constituency this time.

Contrary to media reports, Siddaramaiah will not contest from any other constituency, especially Badami in Bagalkot district as speculated, with the party fielding Devraj Patil from it.

Party's state unit President G Parameshwara will contest from Korategere in Tumakuru district from where he lost in the last assembly poll. State Working President Dinesh Gundu Rao will fight from Gandhinagar in Bengaluru.

Among the other prominent candidates are Ministers KJ George, Roshan Baig, Ramalinga Reddy and Krishna Byre Gowda from the seats they represent in the 14th outgoing legislative assembly from Bengaluru.

Bengaluru Mayor G. Sampathraj will contest from CV Raman Nagar in the city and former Mayor G Padmavathi from Rajajinagar suburb.

The party has given tickets to 15 women candidates, including Women and Child Welfare Minster Umashree from Tardal, Lakshmi Ravindra Hebbalkar from Belgaum Rural, Anjali Nimbalkar from Khanapur, Soumya R. from Jayanagar and Sushma Rajgopal Reddy from Bommanahalli.

Other women nominees are Kirtana Rudra Gowda from Belur, Shakunthala T. Shetty from Puttur, M.C. Mohan Kumari from Gundlupet,, K. Fatima from Gulbarga North, Motamma from Mudigere, Vani Krishnareddy from Chintamani, Roopa Sasidhar from Kolar Gold Field, Sharada Mohan Shetty from Kumta and AL Pushpa from Jagalur.

The party is yet to name candidates for Shantinagar segment in Bengaluru Central, Kittar, Nagthan, Sindgi, Raichur and Melukote.

The incumbent MLA from Shantinagar in Bengaluru is NA Haris and his son Mohammad Nalapad was arrested in connection with an attempt to murder case.

The Congress returned to power after a decade in 2013, winning 122 seats and Siddaramaiah breaking a 40-year-old record to complete the five-year term as Chief Minister.

The opposition BJP released its first list of 72 candidates on April 8, while Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) named 126 nominees on March 27.

The votes will be counted on May 15.