A scratch and lose card for the Congress

North Davangere has no Congress candidate after the EC rejects the party’s nomination form.

The infighting in the Congress in Karnataka is best seen in north Davangere constituency in central Karnataka. The Congress candidature got cancelled as the party mandate or ‘B’ form did not reach the EC in the correct format. It has left the BJP happy and the District Congress backing a Lok Janshakti Party candidate since now North Davangere has no Congress candidate.

Two strong Congressmen, former minister S. S. Malikarjun and Syed Saifullah, vied for the North Davangere seat. On April 30, the last day to file nominations, the party mandate or ‘B’ form was flown in from Bangalore to Davangere, which is around 250 km away, just hours before the election office closed at 3 p.m. While Saifullah was the official party candidate, Mallikarjun’s supporters insisted he be nominated. Sources in the Congress say in the end Saifullah relented, scratched out his name from the form and wrote Mallikarjun’s name instead. However, the Election Commission rejected the form as the name was changed without following a proper procedure. The rules state that only the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president can make changes to the ‘B’ form.

The embarrassing rejection has forced the Congress to take drastic damage control steps. The Congress has been forced to back, Mutton Mohammed Ali, a businessman and first timer from the LJP, who is up against the BJP’s S. A. Ravindranath, a three-time MLA and former Minister of Water Resources.

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Senior Congress leaders also admitted they had to reconcile with the Muslim voters in the South Davangere constituency, who were irked about a Muslim candidate not being given a ticket. However, senior Congress leaders, including Jagdish Tytler, were asked to review the situation and come up with a solution. A Congress leader says the party had agreed to file a Muslim MLC candidate to appease voters.

The Davangere seat was split into North and South constituencies in the recent delimitation exercise. While senior Congress leader and KPCC treasurer Shamanur Shivshankarappa filed his nomination from Davangere South, his son Mallikarjun wanted to file his nomination from the North constituency. A senior Congress leader from Davangere said, “The Congress high command had decided to issue one ticket per family and also wanted significant Muslim representation this time, and officially gave the “B” form to Saifullah.”

However, Davangere District Congress general secretary Shivshankar said, “The North constituency has few Muslim voters, just around 18,000, while the South has around 50,000.”

Mallikarjun’s supporters believe he would make a better candidate in the North and fought for his nomination.

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