'Match-fixing' between Congress & BJP in Dharwad MLC polls?

HUBBALLI: There may be stiff competition in other constituencies for MLC elections from local bodies, but there is no such tough contest in the undivided Dharwad district constituency, which has dual seats.
Both the national parties - BJP and Congress - have not fielded two candidates for two seats but managed to field only one candidate from each party. Congress has fielded Saleem Ahmed while BJP fielded Pradeep Shettar. Elected members of local bodies including gram panchayat, municipal corporation, MLAs, MLCs, MPs and members of other local bodies are eligible to exercise their franchise. Undivided Dharwad MLC constituency consists of Dharwad, Haveri, and Gadag district. There are more than 7,200 voters. National parties have been fielding only one candidate for the dual-seat constituency for the past few elections.
The BJP had planned to field two candidates after the number of aspirant candidates increased and they began hard lobbying for a ticket, but the BJP high command ultimately decided to field incumbent MLC Pradeep Shettar, who is seeking re-election for a second term. The Congress Party, likewise, has not dared to field two candidates and has maintained its one-candidate policy. Both parties' chances of winning the election have improved recently.
According to a senior BJP leader, the candidates who receive the most votes in first and second place will be declared the winners. If the BJP receives the most votes in the first round, the BJP candidate will be declared the winner, and in the second round, the candidate who receives the most votes will be declared the winner. Because the number of voters in this election is limited, independent candidates will have a much lower chance of receiving more votes than national party candidates, so national party candidates will almost always win both seats, he added.
BJP leaders said that the party experimented with fielding two candidates in previous elections, but it caused a lot of confusion and resulted in the defeat of one candidate. "So we are not taking a chance and fielding only one candidate to win at least one seat because we have the support of a large number of local body members,"
"There is no question of match fixing between Congress and BJP to win the election. We always treat the Congress as our traditional enemy," said a BJP leader.
Shakir Sanadi, general secretary, KPCC, told TOI: "As per our strength, we will field candidates. About 60% elected local body members are from Congress, so we have fielded only one candidate. Fielding two candidates will only create confusion. We are confident that we will win one seat."