HAVERI: Major political parties contesting the Hanagal by-election are a bit relieved, as their rebel candidates withdrew nominations on Wednesday. In all, 29 candidates had filed papers, while the documents of 12 were rejected. On Wednesday, the last day of withdrawal of nominations, four pulled out. With this, 13 candidates, including four independents, have remained in the fray.
While the saffron party managed to convince Channappa R Ballari, who is the brother of Byadgi BJP MLA Virupakshappa R Ballari, to pull out, Congress leaders could do so only with two of its candidates. Two others, Nazir Ahmed Savanur and Honnappa Akkivalli, have refused.
A Congress leader said the two could affect the prospects of party candidate, Srinivas V Mane. “As the party did not give the ticket to former MLA Manohar Tahasildar and opted for the candidate from a neighbouring district, party workers were upset.
But now they are convinced and have agreed to work for Mane,” he said. BJP has fielded Shivaraj Sajjanar and Niyaz Sheikh from JDS. In Sindagi, six candidates are left in the fray. Two candidates---Vikram Pandit (Socialist Party) and D Abdulrehaman Haneef (Independent) withdrew their papers.