Bangalore: The BJP on Tuesday announced its candidates for the three Assembly seats going for byelections. The Congress and JD(S) are yet to finalise their nominees. August 2 is the last date for filing nominations.

Bellary?BJP MP B?Sriramulu’s one-time personal assistant Obalesh has been chosen for the Bellary Rural constituency. The seat fell vacant following the resignation of Sriramulu. There were speculations that he would prefer his sister and former Bellary MP J Shantha as the candidate.

To give an impression that the party was against “dynastic politics,” it has settled for Obalesh, a known right-hand man of Sriramulu.

The polling is scheduled for August 21 and the counting of votes will be taken up on August 25.

The 45-year-old Obalesh was a first division clerk. He had worked at Hospet taluk panchayat and Bellary zilla panchayat.

But it is said that he was working as an assistant to Sriramulu and was considered the de facto MLA. About four months ago he quit the government service, it is said.
The Congress, it is said has received applications from 22 aspirants to contest for Bellary Rural, which is reserved for Scheduled Tribe. The name of N?Y Gopalakrishna, former MLA from Molakalmur, is making rounds.

When contacted by this paper, Gopalakrishna said the party had not sounded him in this regard.

But sources said the faction-ridden Congress unit in Bellary has very limited choice when it comes to finding a suitable candidate to take on the Sriramulu camp. In the 2013 Assembly elections, the Congress had almost packed off the BJP from Bellary.

BSY’s son

For the Shikaripur constituency in Shimoga district, BJP has chosen former MP?B?Y?Raghavendra, the son of former chief minister B?S?Yeddyurappa.

The Congress has formed a three-member observers' team to select a suitable candidate for Shikaripura. The panel comprising Ramachandrappa, Motamma and Jayaprakash Hegde has reportedly shortlisted the names of Nagarada Mahadevappa, Shanthana Gowdaru and B?C?Patil, former MLA from Hirekerur.

Both Gowdaru and Mahadevappa had contested unsuccessfully against Yeddyurappa. Patil had lost the Assembly elections in 2013 to U B Banakar of KJP.

Junior Hukkeri

The Congress is all set to accommodate the wish of Prakash Hukkeri, MP from Chikkodi-Sadalaga, to field his son Ganesh Hukkeri.

The son is keen on contesting the seat vacated by his father. He is a two-time member of zilla panchayat.

The senior Hukkeri said that the final decision would have to be taken by the party high command.

For Chikodi-Sadalaga, the BJP has announced that it is fielding Mahantesh Kavatagimath, a sitting MLC from the local authorities’ constituency. He is a committee member of the powerful KLE Society.

The names of the candidates were finalised and announced in Bangalore on Tuesday by State BJP President Pralhad Joshi. While Jagadish?Shettar has been made in-charge of Chikodi-Sadalaga, K?S?Eshwarappa and R?Ashoka are in-charge of Shikaripur and Bellary rural respectively.

The JD(S) is yet to decide on fielding its candidates. Party senior leader H?D?Kumaraswamy said, “If we decide to contest, we should be fielding candidates for all the three seats. We will decide whether we should go through the exercise, on July 30.”