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The sudden announcement of election to Karnataka Legislative Council from Dharwad Local Bodies Constituency (comprising Dharwad, Haveri and Gadag districts) has caught the political parties off the guard. The state election commission on Friday issued notification for election to the seat which has fallen vacant following resignation by Shivaraj Sajjanar.
Sajjanar who had been elected as BJP candidate had tendered his resignation on April 4 this year to join KJP. The election commission has announced the election to be held on August 22. The candidates can start filing nominations from July 29 and August 5 is the last date for filing nomination. The scrutiny of the papers will be on August 6 and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is August 8. The polling if necessary will be on August 22 from 8 AM to 4 PM. The counting of votes will take place on August 26.
Dharwad deputy commissioner Sameer Shukla is the chief election officer and the DCs of Gadag and Haveri districts will be assistant election officers. Sameer Shukla issued a notification on Monday. The nomination can be filed on all the working days between 11 AM to 3 PM.
All the political parties including the ruling Congress, are taken by surprise by the announcement of election.
While the national parties are forced to field their candidates and face the election, the candidates who fought the assembly elections spending huge amount of money and lost are not willing to enter the fray. The election to the Legislative Council from local bodies of three districts involves members of gram panchayat, taluk panchayat, zilla panchayat and municipalities as voters. Since the gram panchayat members are not explicitly identified with a political party, luring them becomes an expensive proposition for the candidates.
While the BJP is mulling over fielding former Navalgund MLA Shankar Patil Munenakoppa as its candidates, the Congress is scouting for young candidates. Nagaraj Chabbi who was denied a ticket in the assembly election is among the front runners. Shivaraj Sajjanar is said to be keen on contesting as KJP candidate. The fielding of candidates by BJP and KJP will also reveal whether the efforts for a patch up between the two parties are on the path of success or not.
