Voting for the Karnataka elections will take place on May 10 whereas the counting of votes will take place on May 13. This year’s Assembly elections will see a tripartite contest between the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Janata Dal (Secular).
From CM Basavaraj Bommai to former CM Siddaramaiah and JD (S) chief HD Kumaraswamy, here are key candidates to watch out for in the Karnataka Elections 2023.
The incumbent Chief Minister will contest from Shiggaon constituency, from where he has been an MLA three times since 2008. Here, he will fight Congress’ Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan.
Leader of Opposition and former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah will contest from the Varuna constituency in a nail-biting battle against the BJP’s Lingayat candidate V Somanna. Siddaramaiah said this would be his last election. His son Yathindra Siddaramaiah is the sitting Congress MLA from the seat.
Former Karnataka CM Jagadish Shettar jumped the ship from the BJP to join the Congress recently. Shettar will contest from the Hubbali-Dharwad-Central constituency against his BJP rival Mahesh Tenginkai.
Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar will contest from the Kanakpura constituency in this election. Shivakumar is credited with creating the coalition government of Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) after the 2018 elections. He took over the reins of the Karnataka Congress from Dinesh Gundu Rao in 2020.
Former CM BS Yediyurappa’s son BY Vijayendra will contest from the Shikaripura constituency in the upcoming Assembly elections. Here, Vijayendra will fight Congress’ GB Malatesh and Nagaraja Gowda, who will field himself as an independent
The JD(S) chief and former leader of opposition HD Kumaraswamy will contest from Chhanapatna against BJP’s CP Yogeshwara. Yogeshwara won the constituency five times—three times on a BJP ticket and two times on a Congress ticket.
Former Karnataka Deputy CM will contest against BJP’s BH Anil Kumar from the Tumakuru constituency in the upcoming polls.