The Election Commission of India, on Tuesday, announced that bypolls for two Assembly seats in Karnataka—Sira in Tumakuru and RR Nagar in Bengaluru—will be held on November 3. The result of these elections will be declared on November 10.
The Sira seat had fallen vacant with the demise of B Sathyanarayana, the former MLA of the JD(S) after he succumbed to an advanced chronic liver disease at the age of 69 on August 4. The RR Nagar seat had remained vacant with the resignation of former Congress MLA and now BJP leader Munirathna. Munirathna was among the 17 who resigned with 16 other MLAs of the then ruling coalition to pave the way for the current BS Yediyurappa-led government. While many of his fellow “rebels” have been re-elected and secured ministerial posts, the election in RR Nagar was stalled due to a legal case until now.
MLC elections
Similarly, elections to the four vacant Legislative Council seats in Karnataka will be held on October 28, the EC said on Tuesday. The four seats belonged to the category of Karnataka South-East Graduates' constituency, Karnataka West Graduates, Karnataka North-East Teachers and Bengaluru Teachers' constituency and have been vacant since June 30.
R Chowda Reddy Thoopalli, SV Sankanur, Sharanappa Mattur and Puttanna represented the four constituencies in the Legislative Council. The EC had put the elections on hold for an undeclared period due to the coronavirus scare though the tenure of the four incumbents ended on June 30.
According to the schedule announced by the Commission, the notification for the elections will be issued on October 1 while the last date of filing nominations is October 8.
Scrutiny of nominations will take place on October 9 and the last date for the withdrawal of candidature is October 12.
Polling will take place on October 28 from 8 am to 5 pm while the counting will be on November 2.
The EC also issued guidelines for conduct of the elections in view of the COVID pandemic.