As the window for filing nominations to seven Legislative Council seats to be elected from Legislative Assembly came to an end on Tuesday afternoon, candidates of all the three political parties filed their nominations, ending weeks of speculations.
While the nomination papers will be scrutinised on Wednesday, the line up paves way for candidates to win their seats unanimously since parties have fielded the number of candidates that they can win. Of the seven seats, BJP can win four, Congress two, and the Janata Dal (Secular) one since each candidate has to poll 29 votes. The candidates will be declared winners after 3 p.m. on May 27, the last date for withdrawing nominations.
Only renomination
The elections have been necessitated due to seven members completing their term on June 14. Interestingly, of the seven retiring members, BJP leader Laxman Savadi is the only member to be renominated.
On Tuesday, hours before the nomination was to come to an end, the JD(S) was the last to announce its candidate and nominated T.A. Sharavana, its former MLC. He was accompanied by former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy. Deputy Leader of JDLP Bandeppa Kashempur, and party president C.M. Ibrahim when he filed the nominations. Congress candidates M. Nagaraj Yadav and Abdul Jabbar were accompanied by Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah and KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar.
The BJP also threw a surprise on Tuesday by nominating Hemalatha Naik and S. Keshava Prasad along with Mr. Savadi and Chaluvadi Narayanswamy, hours before the nomination window closed. BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel, Ministers R. Ashoka, C.C. Patil, Umesh Katti, and Shivaram Hebbar were present.
Sharavana the richest
Former MLC and JD(S) candidate T.A. Sharavana, whose business interest is in jewellery, is the richest candidate among the seven candidates in fray with family assets worth about ₹41.55 crore and a liability of ₹8 crore. His family has about ₹10.98 crore worth of movable assets including ₹89 lakh worth jewellery.
He is followed by the former Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi who has declared asset of about ₹36.37 crore, including ₹6.48 crore movable assets, against liability of ₹1.81 crore. Congress candidate Nagaraj Yadav has declared movable and immovable assets worth about ₹7.2 crore and a liability of ₹3.1 lakh. Another Congress candidate Abdul Jabbar has declared assets worth about ₹6.95 crore and a liability of ₹71.36 lakh.
BJP candidate S. Keshava Prasad has declared assets worth about ₹4.04 crore against a liability of ₹13.5 lakh while Chaluvadi Narayanswamy has declared assets worth ₹6.33 crore and nil liability. Another BJP candidate Hemalatha Naik has declared assets worth about ₹70.8 lakh and no liability.
