Cong confused over candidates in Puttur, Surathkal, Kaup

April 14, 2013

Mangalore, Apr 14: With just 20 days left for the Assembly elections in the state, the Congress party still appears vexed over which candidates to field from three of the constituencies in the twin districts, namely Kaup in Udupi district, Puttur and Suratkal in Dakshina Kannada.

When candidates have been involved in tug-of-war with regard to getting a ticket in four categories to contest from these three prestigious constituencies, the Congress is in a fix over the selection of its candidates.

The party high command's indecisiveness over the selection of candidates for these constituencies and keeping them in the blue has attracted the ire of most Congress members. The confusion over this has become more problematic with aspirants for these constituencies continuously vying for a ticket under the quota for Billawas, Bunts, minorities and women.

Former minister Vasant Salian and businessman Suresh Shetty Gurme are strong contenders vying for the ticket from the constituency of Kaup. Also in the race for the ticket are Kaup Diwakar Shetty from Bunts' community, Y Sukumar from Billawas, former Congress district president M A Gafoor from minority community, Sarasu D Bangera under women's quota and Harish Kini on behalf of Youth Congress.

In the constituency of Puttur, former MLA Shakuntala Shetty and K Hemanath Shetty are vying for a ticket with the party high command, whereas in Suratkal former MLA Vijaykumar Shetty, Moidin Bava from minorities and Kripa Amar Alva under women's quota are strong contenders. Apart from these, former MP Vinay Kumar Sorake was vying for a ticket from any one constituency out of the three.

As majority of the voters in Kaup, Puttur and Suratkal constituencies belonged to Bunt, Billawa and minority communities, Congress now faces a serious dilemma over selection of suitable candidates, owing to the several aspirants vying for a ticket in each constituency. Extreme caution is undertaken about selection of candidates, as one wrong move could thereafter affect the party's chances of winning in each of the 13 constituencies in the undivided Dakshina Kannada.

If a candidate is chosen from the Bunt community in Puttur, then Billawa and minority candidates have a shot in Suratkal and Kaup. The opposite also holds true for these constituencies. However, members campaigning for the Congress in Kaup, Puttur and Suratkal are in a fix as the candidates have not yet been decided. Unless candidates are finalised, party campaigning cannot begin in these constituencies. Even when the list of suitable candidates has been prepared, it needs to be finalised by Congress president Sonia Gandhi herself.

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BJP fields Kishore Kumar Puttur from DK-Udupi Local Authorities’ Constituency

News Network

October 1,2024

The BJP has selected Kishore Kumar Puttur as its candidate for the bypoll to Karnataka Legislative Council from Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Local Authorities’ Constituency. The by-election will be held on October 21.

Kishore Kumar is presently serving as the General Secretary of Dakshina Kannada BJP unit. He had served as vice president of State BJP Yuva Morcha from 2014 to 2016.

The by-election will be held to the seat vacated by Kota Srinivas Poojary of the BJP who has been elected as the Lok Sabha member from Udupi-Chikmagaluru Lok Sabha constituency. The vacancy was created on June 15, 2024 following Poojary’s resignation to the Council. His term in the council was till January, 2028.

In the last Council election held for the dual member constituency in December 2021, Poojary had secured 3,672 votes while the Congress candidate Manjunath Bhandary had secured 2079 votes. Poojary and Bhandary had secured required votes from the first preferential votes and had won the election.

There were several aspirants for the BJP ticket including former MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, DK BJP president Satish Kumpala, Mangaluru divisional in-charge Uday Kumar Shetty, former minister Pramod Madhwaraj and former Udupi district BJP president Kuilady Suresh Nayak.

The Congress is yet to announce its candidate for the election. KPCC working president Manjunath Bhandary in a recent press meet in Mangaluru had said that an opportunity will be given to congress leaders from Udupi district to contest by-election.

The Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Local Authorities’ Constituency has 6037 voters including 3551 from Dakshina Kannada comprising eight MLAs, one MP. The last date for filing nomination is October 3 and the last date for withdrawal of nomination is October 7. The counting will be held on October 24.

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