Congress candidate list out in Karnataka, family members of senior leaders dominate list

The Congress has announced candidates for 17 seats in Karnataka on Thursday, March 22. Interestingly, most of the candidates are close relatives of senior Congress politicians and ministers in the Siddaramaiah government. So far, the Congress has announced candidates for 24 seats while the BJP has announced its candidates for 20 seats.

Sowmya Reddy will contest from Bengaluru South. A former MLA, and General Secretary of the All India Mahila Congress, Sowmya is the daughter of Muzrai and Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy. She will face off with BJP’s Tejasvi Surya.

Mansoor Ali Khan who has been given the Bengaluru Central seat is the son of former Union Minister K Rahman Khan. He was fielded in previous Rajya Sabha polls in May 2022, where he lost.

Rajeev Gowda, the candidate from Bengaluru North is a national spokesperson for the party.

Priyanka Jarkiholi who is set to contest from Chikkodi is the daughter of Public Works Minister and KPCC Working President Satish Jarkiholi. She has already initiated campaign efforts alongside her brother Rahul.

Mrinal Hebbalkar, contesting from Belagavi is the son of Women and Child Development Minister Lakshmi Hebbalkar.

Samyukta Patil, daughter of Agricultural Marketing and Sugar Minister Shivanand Patil will be contesting from Bagalkot. 

Prabha Mallikarjun, the name chosen for Davangere, is the wife of Horticulture Minister SS Mallikarjun and founder of the SS Care Trust.

Radhakrishna Doddamani who will represent the Kalanidhi seat is the son-in-law of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge. Radhakrishna is said to be popular in the Gurmitkal assembly constituency which his father-in-law represented for seven consecutive terms. Last election, Mallikarjun Kharge lost to BJP MP Umesh Jadhav at his home turf. 

Sagar Khandre, contesting from Bidar, is the son of Karnataka Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre.

In the Kodagu-Mysuru constituency, KPCC representative M Laxamana, belonging to the Vokkaliga community, will compete against BJP’s Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, who hails from the royal family.

In the Udupi-Chikkamagaluru constituency, the party selected former MP Jayaprakash Hegde, belonging to the Bunt community, as their candidate. He recently switched from the BJP to the Congress. Hegde was the chairman of State Commission for Backward Classes and he recently submitted the caste survey report to Chief Minister Siddaramaih. Hegde is set to go head-to-head against Kota Srinivas Poojary, who hails from the Billava community.

Others in the list include, Chandrappa from Chitradurga, Vinod Asuti from Hubballi-Dharwad, Rajashekhar Itnal from Koppal, R Padmaraju from Dakshina Kannada, Kumar Nayak from Raichur and Anjali Nimbalkar from Uttara Kannada.