BENGALURU: The Janata Dal (Secular) on Monday released its first list of 93 candidates for the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections. Senior party leader and former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy and his son Nikhil will contest from Channapatna and Ramanagara, respectively.
JDS state president CM Ibrahim released the list at the party office in a joint press conference he held along with Kumaraswamy. Former minister GT Devegowda and his son Hareesh Gowda will contest from Chamundeshwari and Hunsur, respectively. Interestingly, Ibrahim — who is likely to contest from Narasimharaja against incumbent Congress MLA Tanveer Sait — has declared his son CM Fayaz as the candidate from Humnabad in Bidar district.
The party is yet to declare candidates for its stronghold Hassan. Nikhil, who unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Mandya, will now fight to enter the Assembly from Ramanagara. His mother and sitting MLA for Ramanagara, Anitha Kumaraswamy, has sacrificed the seat for him. Anitha had won the 2018 bypoll from Ramanagara. It was a cakewalk for Anitha as the Congress did not field a candidate as it was in alliance with the JDS.
Interestingly, L Chandrashekar, a Congress leader, switched to BJP and was the saffron party’s official candidate. But in an anti-climax, he withdrew from the contest, and Anitha won by a margin of 1,09,137 votes.
Most MLAs retained
In the first list, the JDS leadership has given tickets to all incumbent MLAs except two — AT Ramaswamy, MLA for Arkalgud, and KM Shivalinge Gowda, MLA for Arsikere, as the duo is likely to quit the party ahead of 2023 Assembly polls.