K'taka bypolls: Chief Electoral Officer rejects 54 nominations

Bengaluru: After day-long scrutiny of 355 candidatures received until November 18, for the Karnataka bypolls slated for December 5, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) rejected 54 nominations filed by 30 candidates.

According to a poll official, 301 nominations have been accepted, news agency IANS reported.

Of the 248 candidates, 218 nominations, including 125 Independents, were found valid.

The candidates include 15 each of the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress and 14 of the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), which will not be contesting the Hoskote seat in Bengaluru rural district.

Other contestants include one Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for Vijayanagara seat and two Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for Cikkaballapura and Hunsur seats.

The last date of withdrawal is November 21. The counting of votes will take place on December 9.

The bypolls were to commence from October 21 but they were postponed to December 5 as the Supreme Court was yet to deliver a verdict on the 17 disqualified MLAs.

The MLAs were disqualified by the former speaker KR Ramesh Kumar in July. However, the SC passed a verdict that these MLAs can contest the bypolls.

Out of 17 MLAs, 15 were sworn into the BJP.

Bypolls to Muski (Raichur district) and RR Nagar (Bengaluru southwest) have been delayed due to litigation in the Karnataka High Court over their results in the May 2018 Assembly polls.

The remaining 15 constituencies from which bypolls will be held are Athani, Kagwad, Gokak, Yellapura, Hirekerur, Ranibennur, Vijaynagara, Chickballapura, K.R. Pura, Yeshwanthpura, Mahalakshmi Layout, Shivajinagar, Hosakote, K.R. Pete and Hunsur.