Vijayapura: As Thursday November 26 is the last date for withdrawing the nominations for the MLC elections, the Congress and the BJP are reportedly making efforts to get their respective candidates elected unopposed by convincing the other independent candidates to withdraw from the polls.
According to the District Administration, a total of 13 persons had filed their nomination papers, out of them one nomination was rejected and hence 12 are in the fray. Among them, 10 are independent while one each is from the Congress and the BJP.
The Congress has given ticket to sitting MLC Sunilgouda Patil while the BJP has fielded former MLA P. H. Pujar. Of the ten independent candidates Gurulingappa Angadi is a BJP member, therefore, the party sources said that the leaders are trying to convince him to withdraw his candidature as the party has already fielded its official candidate. “We are trying to convince him to withdraw the nomination as he belongs to our party and the party has already fielded Pujar as the official candidate. I have no idea about the other candidates. It will be great if other independent candidates withdrew their nominations. However if the election becomes inevitable, then we are ready for that too,” said R. S. Patil Kuchabal, the BJP District President.
Sunilgouda Patil, the sitting MLC admitted that the party is trying to convince the independent candidates to withdraw their nomination. However he made it clear that it is the democratic right of the candidates to contest. “We will only convince them to withdraw, rest is left to the discretion of the candidates,” he said.
Pujar, the BJP candidate, claims that he has no knowledge of any efforts being made to convince the independent candidate to withdraw their nominations. He too agreed that it is the right of the candidates to contest the polls.
Congress District President, Raju Algur also admitted that the party leaders are trying to convince the independent candidates to withdraw their nominations in order to facilitate unopposed election. “Now, it is up to the independent candidates to decide,” he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner P. Sunil Kumar said that no one has the right to forcibly get the nomination of any candidate withdrawn. If we get any official complaint, then we will refer the case to the Election Commission to take suitable action,” he said.
Amid this, two independent candidates, Mallikarjun Loni and Kantu Inchageri have admitted that they have been approacged by leaders of the Congress and the BJP asking them to withdraw. But both of them added that they will contest the polls.“
Victory or defeat of the candidates is in the hands of the voters, therefore, I will not withdraw my candidature,” said Loni.
