Karnataka Election 2023: BJP Announces 189 Candidates In First List, 52 New Leaders Get Tickets

The BJP on Tuesday released its first list of candidates. The list featured 52 fresh faces and eight women.

V Somanna (left) will go up against Congress's Siddaramaiah in Varuna, while R Ashoka (right) will fight Shivakumar in Kanakpura. CM Basavaraj Bommai will contest the Siggaon seat.

Source : Facebook@VSomannaBJP/PTI/@RAshokaBJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday released its first list of 189 candidates. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will contest the Shiggaon Assembly seat and national general secretary of BJP CT Ravi will fight for the Chikmagluru seat. The announcement comes after the party's Central Election Committee and Parliamentary Board meeting concluded on Sunday and then again deliberated over certain names on Monday.

There are 52 fresh candidates in BJP's first list for the Karnataka election. As many as 32 OBC candidates, 30 SC candidates, and 16 ST candidates, were given tickets. "There are doctors, IPS and IAS officers, 31 PG candidates, and eight women. There are five advocates, nine doctors, three academicians, two retired IAS and IPS officers, three retired government employees, and eight social workers in this list," said BJP's national general secretary Arun Singh.

Karnataka Revenue Minister R Ashoka has been pitted against Congress president DK Shivakumar on the Kanakpura seat. BJP has fielded Housing and Infrastructure Development V Somanna against Congress's Siddaramaiah in Varuna. Somanna will also contest the Chamrajnagar seat.

The candidate for the Hubli-Dharwad (Central) constituency has not been announced yet. Former Karnataka CM and sitting MLA Jagadish Shettar represents the constituency. The BJP said that Shettar won't be given a ticket this year. Shettar is, however, determined to fight the election, and had asked the central leadership to reconsider its decision just hours before the list was announced. Later, at the press conference held to announce the names of the candidates, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the BJP high command would convince him to drop his plan to contest the polls and stay on as a party leader. 

Earlier, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraja Bommai had said that there is no question of Congress coming back to power and BJP will get an absolute majority in the state.

"Congress says they will take back the reservation, which we have announced. There is no question of them (congress) coming to power," he said. "The double-engine government has done a good job in terms of infrastructure and others. People cutting across all sections have shown a great deal of support. I am sure that on May 13, BJP will get an absolute majority," he added. The Karnataka assembly elections will be held in a single phase on May 10, with the counting of votes scheduled on May 13.