The Election Commission on Thursday rejected the nomination of Congress candidate G Manjunath from the Mulbagal constituency. According to the EC, Manjunath had furnished false information in his affidavit -- the leader reportedly lied about being a Dalit in order to contest from the reserved constituency.

Manjunath belongs to the Byragi community, which is an Other Backward Caste (OBC) in Karnataka. He won the election from Mulbagal in 2013. However, on Wednesday, the Karnataka High Court had set aside his election to the Assembly in 2013, on the basis of a petition filed by the JD(S) candidate who was defeated from Mulbagal, Muni Anjanappa.

The Congress leader had reportedly said in his affidavit that he belongs to the Beda Jangama community – a Scheduled Caste (SC). But the court observed that he had failed to establish this. The Returning Officer on Thursday rejected his candidature quoting the High Court order.

With this rejection, the Congress officially does not have a candidate in Mulbagal. However, on April 24, the last day for filing nominations, M Nandini – the daughter of senior Congress leader KH Muniyappa – filed her nomination as an independent from the constituency.

The Congress will be contesting from 222 of the 224 Assembly constituencies, for what is likely to be a tough election for all parties. They have not fielded any candidate from Melukote, where they are backing Swaraj India candidate Darshan Puttannaiah, the son of a popular farmer leader, KS Puttannaiah.