Bangalore, March 26 (PTI) Former Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, former minister B Sriramulu and state senior Congress leader Janardhana Poojary were among 225 candidates who plunged into the fray on the last day of filing of nominations for the April 17 Lok Sabha polls in the state.
As the deadline neared, there was a rush for filing nominations for which the process was initiated on March 19 for 28 Lok Sabha seats.
So far, nominations have been filed by 559 candidates since the poll process began, Chief Electoral Officer Anil Kumar Jha told reporters here.
After weeks of suspense over his move, Kumaraswamy filed his nominations taking on Union Minister M Veerappa Moilywho is seeking re-election from Chikkaballapur constituency.
The former Chief Minister and son of JDS supremo H D Deve Gowda quit as MP of Bangalore Rural after winning from Ramanagaram in the assembly polls. In the Lok Sabha bypoll, his wife lost to Congress' D K Suresh.
Poojary, a former Union minister, filed his nomination papers from Dakshina Kannada constituency where he said there was a clear-cut battle between him and the BJP.
"BJP has been soliciting votes in Narendra Modi's name, which means the contest is between Modi and me. Other parties like JDS are not even in the race,", Poojary, a former KPCC chief, said.
Sriramulu, a one-time close associate of mining baron Janardhana Reddy, now in jail in Andhra Pradesh in an illegal mining case, entered the arena from Bellary Lok Sabha constituency. He was reinducted into BJP recently despite stiff opposition by party senior leader Sushma Swaraj.
Sugar Minister Prakash Hukkeri filed his nomination to contest from Chikodi. Controversial leader of rightwing outfit Sri Ram Sene Pramod Muthalik also filed papers from Dharwad constituency
where he will take on state BJP president Prahlad Joshi.
Muthalik was induced into BJP, but hours later his entry was vetoed by a red faced central leadership after the move backfired with criticism from within party and its opponents.
As many as 15,85,224 fresh voters have been included in the voters' list across the state, taking the total number of electorate to 4.62 crore, Jha said.
For the first time in the state, the Election Commission will put in use Voters Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines to maintain transparency. "The machine will be attached to the ballot units wherein
a voter can see the print of the vote cast. The printed paper however will remain in the machine. This will help voters know they have pressed the right button," he said.
As per the direction of the ECI, these machines will be used in 1,925 pollings stations in Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency, Jha said.
Talking about seizures, Jha said as much as Rs 2.48 crore in cash have been seized so far. Today, the officers seized Rs 27 lakh cash in Belgaum and another Rs 4 lakh and Rs 2 lakh from Moodbidari and Dharwad, he said.
About 20,000 litres of spirit worth Rs 21 lakh across the state were seized, Jha said.
Scrutiny of papers will be taken up tomorrow. March 29 is the last date for withdrawal of nominations.
B D Narayankar
Tweet: 225 candidates, including #Sriramulu, #Kumaraswamy enter fray http://bdnarayankar20.blogspot.in/
#Moily #PramodMutalik #Bellary #JanardhanPoojary #Cong
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