Congress to contest 21 seats in Legislative Council elections

Bengaluru: Dec 5: IT and BT Minister S R Patil (Vijayapura-Bagalkot seat) and former chief minister N Dharam Singh’s son Vijay Singh (Bidar seat) are among 17 candidates finalised by the Congress high command on Friday to contest the coming elections to the Karnataka Legislative Council.

Of the total 25 constituencies, the Congress has decided to field its candidates in 21 of them. Except Bengaluru Urban, Kolar, Dakshina Kannada and Ballari, the candidates for all other constituencies have been finalised. The high command is learnt to have authorised Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and KPCC president G Parameshwara to finalise the candidates for the remaining four seats after consulting the local leaders.

The party has already directed the selected candidates to their file nomination papers in their respective constituencies. The chief minister and the KPCC president recently spent two days in Delhi holding consultations with the high command on selecting the candidates.

The elections are scheduled to be held on December 27, if necessary. The filing of the nomination papers began on December 2 and the last day for filing the papers is December 10.

For the Bengaluru Urban seat, sitting MLC Dayanand Reddy is eager to contest again. But Narayana Gowda and Hanumantharayappa are also trying to get the ticket to contest from the constituency. Finalising the candidates for the Ballari local body constituency has become a tough task for the party as there are too many aspirants: K C Kondaiah, Suryanarayana Reddy, Allam Veerabhadrappa and Diwakar Babu.

The names of party candidates for 17 constituencies are as follows: Kalaburagi - Allamaprabu Patil; Belagavi - Veerakumar Patil; Vijayapura/Bagalkot - S R Patil; Kodagu - Chandramouli; Mysuru/ Chamarajanagar - Dharmasena; Hubbali-Dharwad - Srinivas Mane and Nagaraj Chebbi (there are two seats here); Chikkamagaluru - Gayatri Shante Gowda; Bengaluru Rural - S Ravi; Tumakuru - Rajendra; Shivamogga - Prasanna Kumar; Bidar - Vijay Singh; Hassan - Gopalaswamy; Mandya - Shivarame Gowda; Chitradurga - Raghu Achar; Raichur - Basavaraj Patil Itagi.

BJP?probables

The BJP has already announced its candidates for 12 seats. The party has decided to field only one candidate in the dual seat constituencies of Vijayapura, Belagavi, Dakshina Kannada, Dharwad and Mysuru.

Party sources said only one candidate each will be filing the nomination in the five constituencies to prevent splitting of votes as the preferential system of voting is followed for the Council polls.

So, in effect, the BJP candidates will be contesting in only 20 of the 25 constituencies. Among the eight seats, wherein the BJP is yet to officially declare its candidate, the party is likely to field Poornima Srinivas, sitting BBMP?corporator, from the Tumakuru local authorities’ constituency. Poornima is the daughter of former JD(S)?State president and minister A?Krishnappa.

Up north, Sanjay Kheny, brother of MLA and Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise managing director Ashok Kheny, is likely to be given the ticket to contest from Bidar.
In Bengaluru Urban, former legislator Nandeesh Reddy is likely to be given the ticket. Reddy, a one-term MLA, had unsuccessfully contested the 2013 assembly polls from KR?Puram constituency.

Other probables include?Surendra Gowda (Kolar) and Raichur (P?V?Chandra). The party is yet to finalise its candidates for Hassan and Mandya constituencies, the party sources said.

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Mangaluru’s ₹1,200 crore fix: Massive sewage overhaul to end city’s drainage woes

News Network

December 19,2025

Mangaluru: In a decisive move to tackle the city’s deteriorating sanitation infrastructure, the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) has announced a massive ₹1,200 crore action plan to overhaul its underground drainage (UGD) network.

The initiative, spearheaded by Deputy Commissioner and MCC Administrator Darshan HV, aims to bridge "missing links" in the current system that have left residents grappling with overflowing sewage and environmental hazards.

The Breaking Point

The announcement follows a high-intensity phone-in session on Thursday, where the DC was flooded with grievances from frustrated citizens. Residents, including Savithri from Yekkur, described a harrowing reality: raw sewage from apartments leaking into stormwater drains, creating a "permanent stink" and turning residential zones into mosquito breeding grounds.

"We are facing immense difficulties due to the stench and the health risks. Local officials have remained silent until now," one resident reported during the session.

The Strategy: A Six-Year Vision

DC Darshan HV confirmed that the proposed plan is not a temporary patch but a comprehensive six-year roadmap designed to accommodate Mangaluru’s projected population growth. Key highlights of the plan include:

• Infrastructure Expansion: Laying additional pipelines to connect older neighborhoods to the main grid.

• STP Crackdown: Stricter enforcement of Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) regulations. While new apartments are required to have functional STPs, many older buildings lack them entirely, and several newer units are reportedly non-functional.

• Budgetary Push: The plan has already been discussed with the district in-charge minister and the Secretary of the Urban Development Department. It is slated for formal presentation in the upcoming state budget.

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