With the BJP releasing the second list of 23 candidates on Wednesday evening, the party has named 212 candidates for the 224-member House. The party released its first list of 189 candidates on Tuesday.
The Assembly elections will be held on May 10 and the votes will be counted on May 13.
Seven MLAs have been excluded from the second list, including Channagiri MLA Madal Virupakshappa who was arrested recently on corruption charges. Former chief minister Jagadish Shettar's name too did not feature in the second list, despite BJP senior leader B S Yediyurappa throwing his weight behind Shettar.
Shettar had announced his intention to contest one last time and met with BJP party president J P Naddha on Wednesday evening. His rebellion also found a supporter in the former chief minister and Lingayat strongman B S Yediyurappa who stated that there was a 99 per cent chance Shettar will be given a ticket.
Shettar wants to contest from the Hubli-Dharwad Central segment, but the second list too did not include the segment. The list also does not include the candidate for the Shivamogga city segment, where sitting MLA and former minister K S Eshwarappa has announced his retirement from electoral politics.
The other MLAs who were denied tickets include Raghupati Bhat from Udupi, Sanjeev Matandoor from Udupi; Haladi Srinivas Shetty from Kundapur, Lalaji Mendon from Kapu, Goolihatti Shekar from Hosadurga; Ramanna Lamani from Shirahatti; Anil Benake from Belagavi Uttar; and Yadvad Shivalingappa from Ramdurg.
Only 90 of the 118 sitting MLAs were fielded again in the first list. The second list includes four Scheduled Caste, one Scheduled Tribe and two women candidates.
Meanwhile, Virupakshappa was replaced by Shiv Kumar in Channagiri. In Haveri, sitting MLA Nehru Olekar was replaced by Gavisiddappa Dyamannavar, while in Byndoor, sitting MLA B Sukumar Shetty made way for Gururaj Gantihole. Mudigere sitting MLA M P Kumaraswamy was dropped and Deepak Doddaiah was named in his place.
The second list comes amid discontent in the party after the first list excluded many veteran leaders, hinting at a possible change in leadership.
