K’taka BJP LS poll list: Ex-CM Bommai in Haveri, Union minister Shobha Karandlaje in B’luru North

Currently an MLA, Bommai served as chief minister from July 2021 to May 2023. He is fielded from the Haveri constituency. His cabinet colleagues B Sriramulu (Bellary), Kota Srinivas Poojary (Udupi-Chikmagalur) and V Somanna (Tumkur) are also on the list.

Poojary is the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council. Both Sriramulu and Somanna lost the Assembly elections last year. Somanna was then fielded from two Assembly constituencies—Varuna and Chamarajanagar.

Prominent among those retained as candidates are Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi, who is seeking a fourth consecutive term from Dharwad. He was first elected as an MP in 2004, from the now-defunct Dharwad North constituency.

Union ministers of state Shobha Karandlaje (agriculture and farmers welfare) and Bhagwanth Khuba (chemicals and fertilisers, new and renewable energy) have also been fielded. Khuba is seeking a third win from Bidar, while Shobha has been shifted to Bangalore North from Udupi-Chikmagalur following Opposition from locals and recent social media campaigns against fielding her in the constituency.
Bangalore North was previously represented by former Union minister DV Sadananda Gowda, who has been dropped.

Others who did not feature in the list include Mysore-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha and Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel. Simha is being replaced by Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, titular king of the erstwhile Mysore royal family. Kateel, who represented Dakshina Kannada thrice and was until recently the BJP state president, is replaced by the party’s state secretary Captain Brijesh Chowta.

Sitting MPs Tejasvi Surya and PC Mohan are fielded again from the Bangalore South and Bangalore Central constituencies, respectively.

The JD(S) has managed to have one of its candidates fight elections on a BJP ticket. The saffron party has fielded Dr CN Manjunath, son-in-law of JD(S) supremo and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda.

In the Davangere constituency, the BJP has fielded Gayathri Siddeshwara, wife of sitting MP GM Siddeshwara. It has not announced candidates for the Belgaum, Uttara Kannada, Chitradurga, Raichur and Chikkaballapur constituencies.