Karnataka Assembly elections 2018: BJP releases third list of 59 candidates; here's the full list

Follow us on

The Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) on Friday released its third list of 59 candidates for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections.

The party had released its first list of 72 candidates on April 8, followed by the second list of 82 candidates on April 16. 

With announcement of 59 more candidates, the BJP has declared its nominees for 213 seats for the elections to the 224-member state assembly. 

It has fielded Gopal Rao from Chamundeshwari, from where Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is contesting on a Congress ticket. 

The BJP also changed its candidate from Kolar Gold Field seat reserved for scheduled caste candidates. S Ashwini will now be its nominee from the seat, the party said said. 

The BJP has so far not announced its candidate from Varuna, the current constituency of Siddaramaiah from where the Congress has fielded his son. 

B Y Vijayendra, son of its chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa, is seen as the likely BJP candidate from there.

Here is the full list of candidates listed in BJP's third list: 

Karnataka will go to polls on May 12. The counting of votes will take place on May 15. The term of the current 224-member legislative Assembly ends on May 28. 

The Assembly election is Karnataka is being seen as a battle of prestige between the Congress and the BJP as it is the only major state where the Congress is in power at present. While the Congress would want to retaining it, a win for the BJP will provide a great boost to its campaign for the 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign. The BJP is making a concerted bid to unseat the Congress in Karnataka where the issue of granting "religious minority" status to the dominant Lingayats and Veerashaiva Lingayats has become a major issue.