BENGALURU: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday announced its second list of 23 candidates for the May 10 Assembly polls in Karnataka.
The list saw eclusion of as many as seven sitting MLAs, including Madal Virupakshappa who was recently arrested on corruption charges.
The party released its first list of 189 candidates on Tuesday.
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Former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar also found his name missing from the list.
Earlier in the day, Shettar met BJP president JP Nadda and staked his claim to contest from his Hubli-Dharwad Central constituency.
Notably, BJP is yet to name its candidate from the seat.
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Nagaraja Chabbi, a Congress leader who recently joined BJP, has been fielded from Kalghatgi.
In Haveri (SC reserved), the BJP has denied the ticket to MLA Nehru Olekar, who had been sentenced in a corruption case, though he had obtained a stay from the higher court.
In his place, the party has fielded Gavisiddappa Dhyamannavar.
The party has also denied the ticket to MLA for Mudigere (reserved) constituency M P Kumaraswamy.
The party has fielded Deepak Doddaiah from there.
Age factor may be cause for denial of the party ticket to MLA and former Minister S A Ravindranath in Davangere North.
In his place, Lokikere Nagaraj has been fielded.
Similarly, MLA Linganna has been denied the ticket in Mayakonda (SC reserved) constituency.
The BJP denied tickets to four sitting MLAs. Nehru Olekar, sitting MLA from Haveri, was dropped and was replaced by Gavi Siddappa.
Shiv Kumar will contest from Channagiri seat, with sitting MLA Madal Virupakshappa denied a ticket.
Byndoor sitting MLA Sukumar Shetty has been denied a ticket and replaced by Gururaj Gantihole.
There are two women in the second list of 23 candidates – Lalitha Anapur in Gurmitkal, and Ashwini Sampangi from Kolar Gold Field.
Filing of nominations will begin on April 13 and continue till April 20.
On Tuesday, BJP announced candidates on 189 seats with 52 fresh faces that included doctors, lawyers, and retired bureaucrats.