Congress 20, JDS 8: Karnataka’s ruling alliance finalises seat sharing for Lok Sabha elections

With less than a month to go for Lok Sabha elections, the Congress and the JDS have sealed a pre-poll pact in Karnataka. As per the agreement, the Congress will contest on 20 and the JDS on eight.

The ruling Congress-JDS alliance of Karnataka has finalised its seat-sharing agreement for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Image courtesy: ANI

BENGALURU: The ruling Congress-JDS alliance of Karnataka has finalised its seat-sharing agreement for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The state has 28 Lok Sabha seats, out of which the Congress will contest on 20 and the JDS on eight. Hassan and Mandya, where the JDS has sitting MPs went to it, along with Shimoga, where party chief Deve Gowda has already declared that former MLA Madhu Bangarappa will be the candidate. The seats of the Congress quota are: Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Mysore, Chamarajnagar, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South, Chikkaballapur, Kolar, Chikkodi, Belgaum, Bagalkot, Gulbarga, Raichur, Bidar, Koppal, Bellary, Haveri, Dharwad, and Davanagere. The JDS will field its candidates in Udupi-Chikkamagalur, Tumkur, Uttara Kannada, Bijapur, Bangalore North, Hassan, Mandya and Shimoga. JDS bagged Tumkur seat after a hard bargain as the grand old party had decided not to cede the constituencies where the party has a sitting MP to the regional partner, PTI reported quoting party sources. The Congress' S P Muddahanumegowda is current MP from Tumkur, and is a ticket aspirant. Mysore-Kodagu was another constituency that JD(S) had demanded from the old Mysuru region, but could not bag it due to opposition from Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah as the seat is in his home turf, the sources said. Sharing of seats from old Mysuru region was an acid test for both the parties as the JD(S) considers it as its bastion, and the Congress has its sitting members from most of the seats there. The JDS has already announced Gowda's grandsons Nikhil Kumaraswamy and Prajwal Revanna as candidates from the party bastions of Mandya and Hassan respectively. While Nikhil is son of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, Prajwal is son of Gowda's eleder son and PWD Minister H D Revanna. The Congress and JD(S), which fought bitterly against each other during 2018 assembly polls, joined hands to form the government as the election threw up a hung verdict. A meeting on seat sharing between Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Gowda at Delhi last week was inconclusive. However, scaling down his party's demand, Gowda had asked Congress to allot at least 10 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats to his party. JDS had earlier demanded that it be given 12 seats. Sources had then said the Congress may concede a maximum of eight seats to the JDS. Polling in Karnataka will be held in two phases -- on April 18 and 23. Polling will be held in central (Malnad) and southern regions in the first phase on April 18 and in the northern regions in the second phase on April 23. Of the 28 constituencies, 5 are reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and two for the Scheduled Tribes (STs). The SC seats are Bijapur, Gulbarga, Chitradurga, Chamarajanagar and Kolar and ST seats are Bellary and Raichur in the state's northern region. The 14 constituencies to vote in the first phase are Udupi-Chikmagalur, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Mandya, Mysore, Chamarajnagar, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South, Chikkaballapur and Kolar. The other 14 constituencies, which will vote in the second phase, are Chikkodi, Belgaum, Bagalkot, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Raichur, Bidar, Koppal, Bellary, Haveri, Dharwad, Uttara Kannada, Davanagere and Shimoga. Polling in all the 28 parliamentary seats in the 2014 general elections was, however, held in a single phase on April 17, 2014. Votes were counted on May 16, 2014. The BJP had won 17 seats, the Congress 9 and the JDS two. (With inputs from agencies)