Congress nominees for Karnataka assembly poll by Apr 15

Bengaluru : Karnataka's ruling Congress would release names of its contestants for the May 12 assembly poll by April 15, said party's state unit president G. Parameshwara on Wednesday.

"Names of the candidates for the 224 assembly seats across the state will be declared by April 15 after the clearance by the party high command, je told reporters here.

The Election Commission will notify the poll on April 17 and last date for filing nominations is April 24 and withdrawal on April 27. Vote count on May 15.

"Our Central Election Committee will finalise the names after the screening committee clears them on April 9-10 so that the candidates can file papers in their respective constituencies from April 17-18," Parameshwara said.

The screening committee is headed by party's senior leader Madhusudan Mistry, with party MPs Tamradhwaj Sahu and Gaurav Gogoi as its members.

Party's General Secretary and its state in-charge K.C. Venugopal is an ex-officio member of the committee along with Parameshwara and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

Party President Rahul Gandhi on had on February 25 set up a 43-member state election committee headed by Parameshwara to recommend candidates to the central committee for the selection of the party candidates.

As part of the selection exercise, the party's state unit leaders and officer-bearers met here in the presence of Siddaramaiah and Parameshwara to assess the winning prospects of the candidates who applied for the party ticket, including outgoing legislators.

"We have received over 1,000 applications till March 10 from a record number of aspirants to contest on the party symbol," a party official told IANS here.

In the May 2013 assembly election, the Congress returned to power after nearly a decade by winning 122 seats, 9 more than 213 required for a simple majority.

"As part of the selection process, discussions were held with respective district in-charge ministers and district unit leaders on the winning prospects of the applicants, which include cadres with years of experience," added the official.

The party is also short-listing about 40 star campaigners for electioneering across the state from April 28 to May 10.