The BJP on Thursday fielded Mangala Angadi as its candidate for the Lok Sabha bye-poll to Belagavi constituency in Karnataka, which fell vacant following the death of her husband and Union minister Suresh Angadi last year. The party also fielded K Ratna Prabha, a former IAS officer who served as the Chief Secretary of Karnataka, from Tirupati Lok Sabha constituency in Andhra Pradesh, according to a statement. Tirupati MP Balli Durga Prasad Rao died last year. Both Rao and Angadi passed away after contracting the novel coronavirus.
Ratna Prabha served as the Chief Secretary of Karnataka before retiring in 2018. She joined the BJP in 2019. Reacting to her nomination as the candidate from Tirupati, Ratna Prabha said, "Overwhelmed by the flood of phone calls and messages from my well wishers sharing their joy and happiness on my nomination as a candidate for Tirupati MP. So much of expectations too. Will work day and night with the people of the constituency and never let them down. Thank u again."
The list released by the BJP also has names of its nine candidates for as many Assembly bye-polls spread across six states. Elections to these seats will be held on April 17 and results will be declared on May 2.
The Congress is reportedly discussing the name of Satish Jarkiholi as its candidate in the Belagavi bye-polls. Satish's brother Ramesh, a BJP leader, was forced to resign earlier this month as Water Resources Minister after videos were leaked to the media accusing him of asking for sexual acts in return for a government job. The scandal termed the 'CD case' rocked state politics and led to six more BJP MLAs taking injunction orders against the media on publishing of any defamatory material.