Karnataka Lok Sabha Election Phase 3: Key constituencies and candidates

Karnataka

With the high-profile battles in the South Karnataka’s Vokkaliga-dominated Old Mysore constituencies and the coastal constituencies coming to an end on April 25, the battleground will now shift to North and Central Karnataka regions that will go into polling on May 7 as part of the third phase.

On May 7, the constituencies that will go to polls are Chikkodi, Belgaum, Bagalkot, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Raichur, Bidar, Koppal, Bellary, Haveri, Dharwad, Uttara Kannada, Davangere, Shimoga.

In this phase, all eyes will be on high-profile seats such as Haveri, Shimoga, Uttar Kannada, and Dharwad.

The BJP has fielded former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai from Haveri, BS Yediyurappa's son BY Raghavendra from Shimoga, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi from Dharwad, and Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri from Uttar Kannada. Kageri replaced Anantkumar Hegde, who held this seat since 2004.

In the first phase of voting in the state, it was largely peaceful barring an incident at a polling station in Indiganatha village of Hanur under Chamarajanagar parliamentary constituency where the Electronic Voting Machines were destroyed during a clash between two groups of people. Re-polling will be conducted at this polling station in Hanur on April 29.

In the first phase, the Congress contested in all 14 seats, while BJP fought on 11 and its alliance partner JD(S) in three -- Hassan, Mandya, and Kolar.

Important BJP candidates running from Belgaum, Haveri, Dharwad, and Bengaluru South are Jagadish Shettar, Basavraj Bommai, Pralhad Joshi, and Tejasvi Surya. Priyanka Jarakiholi, Mrunal Ravindra Hebbalkar, Samyukta S Patil, H R Algur, Radhakrishna, G Kumar Naik, Sagar Khandre, K. Rajashekar Basavaraj Hitnal, Anandaswamy Gaddadevara, Math, Anjali Nimbalkar, and other candidates are among those that the Congress has nominated.

In the 2019 polls, the BJP won 25 of the 28 seats in Karnataka while the Congress, Janata Dal (Secular) (JDS) and an Independent won one seat each.

In 2014, the BJP won 17 of the 28 seats, the Congress nine and the JDS two. Festive offer For the 2024 polls, the BJP has given three seats to ally JDS.

The BJP is looking at repeating its 2019 performance while the Congress, which is in power in Karnataka, is hoping to win at least half a dozen seats and improve its numbers.