Karnataka Polls: DK Shivakumar's Papers In Order, Over 3,000 Candidates In Fray After Scrutiny

Electoral officials in Karnataka have found the nominations of 3,044 nominated candidates as valid who are in the fray for the May 10 Assembly polls in the state.

Congress leader DK Shivakumar's nomination accepted.

Source : PTI

Karnataka Elections 2023: Election officials have found the nominations of 3,044 nominated candidates as valid who are in the fray for the May 10 Assembly polls in the state, reported PTI. The papers of all these candidates were found to be in order. As per the report, this is excluding five Assembly segments, as the scrutiny in Savadatti-Yellamma, Aurad, Haveri (SC), Raichur and Shivajinagar constituencies is not yet completed, the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka said in a release on Friday. 

According to official sources, PTI stated, the nomination of state Congress President D K Shivakumar has been accepted. He had expressed doubt over the possibility of his papers getting rejected. 

This came after the Congress state chief claimed that the BJP’s IT cell was vetting his affidavit. "My nomination is in order. But there was information that the BJP's IT cell was examining my nomination papers. There's a conspiracy to misuse the official machinery," Shivakumar said before the scrutiny of documents began on Friday.  

Notably, out of the 3,044 validly nominated candidates -- 219 are from BJP, 218 from Congress, 207 from JD(S), while the rest are all from small parties and Independents, according to the CEO's office, the PTI report mentioned. 

It added that a total of 4,989 nominations have been received from these candidates. The last date for the withdrawal of candidatures is April 24. 

On the other hand, in a surprise move, hours before the deadline for filing nomination on April 20, Congress MP from Bangalore Rural D K Suresh on Thursday filed nomination from the Kanakapura segment. His elder brother Shivakumar is the party's candidate from here. 

It was later found that Suresh filed his papers as a "backup plan" in the event of Shivakumar's nomination getting rejected. They had alleged that BJP has conspired to reject Shivakumar's nomination. 

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