Vijayapura: The candidates of two leading parties, the Congress and BJP filed nomination papers for the coming MLC election for Local Bodies’ Constituency on Tuesday November 23.
While the sitting MLC Sunilgouda Patil of the Congress submitted his nomination papers, P. H. Pujar of the BJP, a former MLA filed nomination papers in the presence of various leaders of the party. With this, it has now become certain that the Vijayapura-Bagalkot MLC constituency has two seats, however both the national parties have fielded only one candidate each to ensure the victory.
While the BJP had announced the candidate a couple of days ago itself, the Congress announced the ticket in the evening of Monday November 22. The primary reason behind the delay in announcing the candidate is said to be the confusion of the Party High Command in selecting the candidate. Since both sitting MLCs S. R. Patil and Sunilgouda Patil were seeking ticket to contest again while the party wanted to field only one candidate for the constituency, the party was taking time to finalise the candidate. Finally, the party chose Sunilgouda over S. R. Patil as their official candidate.
Meanwhile, the decision is said to have upset S. R. Patil and his supporters who were hoping to clinch the ticket. Dissatisfied with the decision, the supporters of S. R. Patil held a protest in Bagalkot on Monday November 22.
While there was a problem with the Congress in finalising the candidate, the BJP did not have such an issue. The party did not face resistance from any other aspirant and the ticket was given to Former MLA and veteran leader P. H. Pujar.
Speaking to media persons after filing the nomination, both candidates exuded confidence of their victory. “We thank Congress President Sonia Gandhi, AICC General Secretary, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Former Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President D. K. Shivakumar and all leaders of the District for supporting my candidature,” he said. Pujar too thanked the party leaders for considering him for the post and offered him a ticket.