Congress committee clears names of 130 ‘undisputed’ candidates for Karnataka assembly elections

BENGALURU: The Congress screening committee on Monday cleared the names of ‘undisputed’ candidates for 130 constituencies for the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections.“Names of candidates, including the sitting 122 legislators, who have no challengers in their constituencies have been cleared. The committee charted up undisputed candidates in the first round of screening,” said a party source.
The committee considered second-generation ticket aspirants next. The two-day screening committee meeting will be followed by the Central Election Committee meet on Tuesday after which the Congress will release its candidate list for all 224 constituencies.

The screening committee headed by senior party leader Madhusudan Mistry met in New Delhi, a day after the Bharatiya Janata Party announced its first list of 72 candidates. The final draft of candidates for all 224 constituencies will be prepared by the committee that includes MPs Tamradhwaj Sahu and Gaurav Gogoi. The draft will be sent for final approval to the Central Election Committee headed by party president Rahul Gandhi.

The screening committee met senior party functionaries from the state including the two working presidents to collect opinions earlier on Monday. The final draft, however, is being prepared by AICC general secretary and Karnataka in-charge K C Venugopal, KPCC president G Parameshwara and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who are the ex-officio members of the committee along with the three central leaders.

“We already have 122 sitting legislators and it is only a matter of picking the rest. There will be one full and final list,” said party sources. Asked about not giving tickets to legislators facing anti-incumbency, a senior party office-bearer said, “While replacing such legislators is ideal, it comes with riders. Managing the consequent dissent from within the constituency will be taxing for the party.”