Karnataka Polls: Congress releases first list; fields Siddaramaiah from Varuna, Shivakumar from Kanakapura

Congress has released the first list of candidates for the upcoming Karnataka assembly election.

In the first list, the party has revealed names of 124 candidates who will be fighting the state polls.

Congress has decided to field Siddaramaiah from Varuna while party state president DK Shivakumar will contest from Kanakapura, as per the first list.


The party has fielded former deputy chief minister G Parameshwara from the Koratagere (SC) constituency. Former ministers KH Muniappa and Priyanka Kharge will contest from Devanahalli and Chitapur (SC), respectively. Priyanka is the son of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge.

The party's central election committee cleared the first list of candidates after a meeting in Delhi on March 17. The committee is chaired by Congress chief Kharge. Rahul Gandhi was also present at the meeting.

Congress plan to release the list early was delayed a bit after it found too many aspirants. Notably, it is the first party to release its candidates' list for the elections in Karnataka.

The Congress is seeking to wrest power from the BJP in the southern state. In the 2018 assembly polls had produced a hung verdict after a triangular contest involving Janata Dal (Secular). Though Congress secured 38% votes, BJP with 36.22% votes ended up as the largest party in 2018.

Assembly polls in Karnataka are slated before May this year when the tenure of the current assembly ends. The Election Commission is, however, yet to announce the schedule for assembly polls in the southern state.