Model Code of Conduct For Karnataka Assembly Bypolls Come Into Effect From Nov 11: Chief Electoral Officer

Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer Sanjeev Kumar on Sunday said the voting for by-elections to 15 Karnataka Assembly Constituencies will take place on December 5 and counting of votes will happen on December 9.

New Delhi: In another development, Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer Sanjeev Kumar on Sunday said the voting for by-elections to 15 Karnataka Assembly Constituencies will take place on December 5 and counting of votes will happen on December 9. He also informed that the Model Code of Conduct comes into effect from November 11.

Sanjeev Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka: Voting to take place on 5 December & counting of votes on 9 December for by-elections to 15 Karnataka Assembly Constituencies. Model Code of Conduct comes into effect from 11 November. pic.twitter.com/xkJY0Os5ws

— ANI (@ANI) November 10, 2019

Meanwhile, the Congress last week released the list of eight candidates for the bypolls in the state. As per the list, the candidates include Bhimmanna Naik (Yellapur), BH Bannikod (Hirekerur), KB Koliwad (Rannebennur), M Anjanappa (Chikkaballapur), M Narayanswamy (KR Pura), M Shivaraj (Mahalakshmi Layout), Padmavathi Suresh (Hoskote) and HP Manjunath (Hunsur).

“Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi approved the proposal for the candidature of the following persons as party candidates for the ensuing by-elections to the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka,” party general secretary Mukul Wasnik said in a statement.

The 15 assembly constituencies that will go to poll include Athani, Kagwad, Gokak, Yellapur, Hirekerur, Ranibennur, Vijayanagara, Chikkaballapur, K R Pura, Yeshvanthapura, Mahalakshmi, Shivajinagar, Hosakote, Krishnarajpet, and Hunsur.

The bypolls to these 15 constituencies were initiated due to the resignation of 14 Congress and 3 Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) rebel legislators and their subsequent disqualification by former Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar for defying the anti-defection law.

The development comes as the Election Commission on September 26 informed the Supreme Court that it would postpone the 15 Karnataka Assembly by-elections, caused by disqualification of rebel legislators by the then Speaker.

Representing the Election Commission, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi told the Bench headed by Justice NV Ramana that the panel would postpone the elections. After that the top court deferred the matter for October 22 and asked all the parties to file responses.