Karnataka Elections 2018: Congress releases list of candidates, Siddaramaiah to contest from Chamundeshwari seat

The Congress on Sunday finalised the first list of candidates for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly polls. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will contest from Chamundeshwari while no decision has been taken yet on the Badami seat.

Siddaramaiah's son Yatheendra will contest from Varuna. Children of PWD minister H C Mahadevappa, home minister Ramalingareddy and Kolar MP K H Muniyappa will also contest the election.

Candidates for 218 seats have been announced by the party. The party will announce names for five other seats at a later date.

Karnataka will go to polls on May 12 and the counting will be held on May 15. Karnataka is headed for a hung Assembly this year, an India Today-Karvy Insights opinion poll conducted just over a month before the high-stakes election in the state predicts. The biggest takeaway from the opinion poll is that no one party is expected to reach the magic number of 112 in Karnataka's 225-member Assembly. The Congress, currently in power, can hope to win between 90 and 101 seats while the BJP is expected to bag between 78 and 86 seats. Going by the opinion poll, HD Deve Gowda's Janata Dal (Secular) may be the kingmaker in Karnataka, with the party and its pre-poll alliance member, Bahujan Samaj Party, winning between 34 and 43 seats.

Here's the full list of Congress candidates for Karnataka elections 2018 released on Sunday