BENGALURU:With the Central Election Commission (CEC) shortly expected to announce the poll schedule to fill up 25 vacant seats in the Legislative Council, hectic lobbying is on in the Congress camp for tickets.
According to Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) sources, ticket aspirants from all the 30 districts are putting pressure from all quarters and are meeting party state-unit chief G Parameshwara and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.Parameshwara, who is also the Home Minister, told Express, “The demand for party tickets to enter the Upper House is high.... consultations are on to shortlist the (party) nominees.”
He said that KPCC has already set in motion the process to select candidates and has sought inputs from district and block Congress presidents in this regard.
Of the 25 members whose term is set to end in January, 13 are from Congress, followed by BJP (7) and JD(S)-5. Party sources said that while a majority of the sitting Congress MLCs are expected to be renominated, the party high command may bring new faces for three or four seats.
Congress members whose six-year term will end are— S R Patil, Nagaraj Chabbi, Srikanth Ghotnekar, Veerkumar Appaso Patil, Srinivas Mane, Dayananda, A V Gayitri Shanthe Gowda, Prathap Chandra Shetty, T John, Nasir Ahmed, Allama Prabhu Patil and R Dharmasena. Among the sitting members — Ghotnekar (Uttara Kannada), Gayitri Shanthe Gowda (Chikkamagaluru) and T John (Kodagu) — are unlikely to get renominated as local party leaders and workers are against their renominaton, sources added.Independent MLC, Raghu Achar, who is also an associate Congress member in the Council, is likely to get a ticket to contest from the local bodies constituency from Chitradurga, sources said. Though winability is the main criteria to select candidates, other factors like caste, community and regional aspects will also be considered while shortlisting candidates, party sources added.
Election mode
Jan Tenure of 25 members will end (Congress 13; BJP 7; JD(S) 5)
Unlikely to get renominated from Congress — Gayitri Shanthegowda, Srikant Ghotnekar and T John