Jagadish Shettar, N S Boseraju file nominations for MLC bypolls

Bengaluru: Three Congress candidates, including former chief minister Jagadish Shettar, contesting the June 30 bypolls to the Karnataka legislative council filed their nominations here on Tuesday.

The Congress in Karnataka has fielded Shettar, Minister N S Boseraju and Tippannappa Kamaknoor. The BJP and the JD(S) did not field any candidate.

However, an independent candidate too is contesting the election, according to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The candidates will be elected by the sitting MLAs.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar were among those who were present at the time of filing the nominations.

The three seats fell vacant following the resignations of Baburao Chinchansur, R Shankar and Laxman Savadi to contest the Assembly elections.

While Savadi won the election from his seat, Chinchansur and Shankar lost. The new MLCs will be elected by the MLAs.

Later speaking to reporters, Siddaramaiah exuded confidence that all the three candidates will win the bypoll.

"We got the nominations filed by our three leaders for the MLC byelection. We are confident that all the three will win," the Chief Minister said.

In all likelihood, the election of the three Congress MLCs will be unopposed.

Shettar will have a term up to June 14, 2028; Kamaknoor up to June 30, 2026; and N S Boseraju till June 17, 2024.

Shettar headed the BJP government as chief minister for 10 months from July 2012 to May 2013. He also served as the Leader of Opposition and Assembly Speaker. He joined the Congress ahead of the assembly elections after being denied a ticket by the BJP.

The Congress fielded him from his Hubballi-Dharwad Central constituency. The six-time MLA secured a 36.31 per cent vote share, losing to BJP's Mahesh Tenginakai.

Boseraju, who holds the Minor Irrigation and Science and Technology portfolios in the government, is also a national secretary of the Congress.