Bangalore:
Elections for the Bengaluru RR Nagar Assembly seat will be held on November 3. The seat has been vacant since the acting MLA, N Munirathna, was disqualified under the anti-desertion law last year after moving from Congress to the BJP.
On Wednesday, candidates from Karnataka’s three main political parties submitted their nominations, including Munirathna, who said he was “very happy” and “had a debt” to pay to people in the neighborhood.
“I am very happy, I don’t even know how to express it. I have a debt to RR Nagar people that I am going to pay. RR Nagar people vote for development. That is the only ‘wave’,” said Mr. Munirathna said after submitting your nomination papers.
The BJP candidate was accompanied by Senior Deputy Minister Dr. Ashwath Narayan, who told NDTV that “the entire constituency is in favor of our party.”
“Our candidate Shri Munirathna was previously elected from the same constituency. He is having a good level of popularity and acceptability in RR Nagar. We are very confident that we will win this election without question,” said Dr. Narayan.
“I don’t think there will be any resistance from the opposition. They were looking for a candidate. They couldn’t get it, they probably got a candidate. We are in a very good position. We are going to do extremely well. I think the margin is going to double,” he added.
Congress presents Kusuma H, the wife of IAS officer Ravi, who made headlines after his death by alleged suicide in 2015. Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who accompanied the candidate, said he was confident that his party’s candidate would win.
“I am 100% sure that our candidate, Smt Kusuma, will win this by-election because in the last two elections the candidate for Congress also won,” he said.
“Munirathna was a candidate for Congress. Just because he joined the BJP does not mean that the voters will follow him. We have presented a strong candidate and an educated woman,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Janata Dal Secular, a former Congressional coalition partner, has his own candidate, V Krishnamurthy, and another former senior minister, HD Kumaraswamy, was there to support him.
Referring to the dramatic crossover of Congress and the MLA from JDS to the BJP, which triggered the fall of the coalition government, and the December by-elections for those seats, he said: “The general elections are very prestigious for all parties because in the previous In the elections, the BJP did very well. We have to give the right message to the workers of my party. We are fighting in these elections on development issues, “he said.
In terms of numbers, winning (the) RR Nagar and Sira (the other seat is taken) makes little difference either way. The BJP has a large majority that will not be affected if any of the opposition parties claim these seats.
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