Cong fields Meti's son, Shamanur's grandson, in Bagalkot, Davangere South bypolls
Bengaluru (PTI): After several rounds of discussion amid stiff competition for the party tickets, Congress on Sunday announced Umesh Meti and Samarth Mallikarjun as the party candidates for Assembly by-polls to Bagalkot and Davangere South assembly constituencies.
Bypolls for the Bagalkot and Davanagere South Assembly constituencies were necessitated following the deaths of Congress MLAs H Y Meti and Shamanur Shivashankarappa, respectively.
The Congress gave tickets to family members of the deceased legislators in both constituencies. While Umesh Meti is the son of H Y Meti, Samarth Mallikarjun is the grandson of Shamanur Shivashankarappa.
Samarth's father, S S Mallikarjun, is a minister in the Siddaramaiah-led Cabinet and is in charge of Davangere district, while his mother, Prabha Mallikarjun, is a Member of Parliament from the region.
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Following the approval of its Central Election Committee, the BJP has already announced Veerabhadrayya Charantimath from Bagalkot and Srinivas T Dasakariyappa from Davangere South as candidates.
The last date for filing nominations is March 23, and elections will be held on April 9.
AICC General Secretary in charge of Karnataka, Randeep Singh Surjewala, held a series of discussions in Bengaluru over the last two days, including with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar, who is also the party president in the state, regarding candidates for the two seats.
The meetings proceeded even as ticket aspirants Samarth and Sadiq Pailwan filed their nominations from the Davangere South Assembly constituencies on Friday, despite the party not having officially announced the candidates.
After filing his papers, Samarth said he filed nominations because it was an auspicious day and that he would file another set of papers after the party officially announces the ticket to him.
While veteran Congress leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa's family and supporters demanded that his grandson Samarth be fielded for the Davangere South seat, there was a strong demand from Muslims for the ticket, as the community has a significant presence in the segment.
Some factions within Congress that have considerable clout in the region opposed giving the ticket to the Shamanur family.
In Bagalkot, although there were indications that the ticket would go to Meti's family, strong disagreement existed among his sons and daughters because each one intended to contest, party sources said.
Meanwhile, another strong aspirant from Congress, Govind Ballari, filed his nomination on Friday, expressing hope that the party would give him a ticket.
In Bagalkot, Meti defeated BJP's Charantimath by a margin of 5,878 votes and in Davangere South, Shivashankarappa defeated BJP's B G Ajay Kumar by a margin of 27,888 votes, in the 2023 Assembly polls.
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Five killed, 31 injured in separate accidents in Odisha
Bhubaneswar (PTI): Five people were killed and 31 injured in separate road accidents in Odisha, police said on Saturday.
Three persons were killed and one injured when a truck hit two motorcycles and a scooter on National Highway-16 passing through Bhubaneswar on Saturday evening, the police said.
The accident took place on the overbridge near Fire Station Chhak when four persons - two youths in one bike, one elderly man in another bike and one woman in a scooter - were on the way from Saheed Nagr to Khandagiri.
The police said three persons died on the spot, while the elderly man sustained critical injury and was rushed to a hospital for treatment. The impact of the accident was so severe that the skull of the woman was thrown on the road, they said.
However, the truck which hit the two wheelers fled from the accident site and was yet to be located. The police were yet to ascertain the identity of the deceased persons.
The accident caused a severe traffic jam on the NH-16 connecting Kolkata and Chennai.
Earlier on the day, two persons were killed and nearly 30 others injured in separate road accidents in Ganjam, Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh districts in a span of 24 hours, police said.
In Ganjam district, a bus carrying around 30 pilgrims from Polasara to Puri collided head-on with a truck near Bali Dhaba on Kodala-Khalikote Road early on Saturday morning.
The truck driver was killed in the accident, while 15 others sustained injuries.
"The injured were shifted to Kodala hospital and two of them were later referred to MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur," a police officer said.
In another accident in Mayurbhanj district, an SUV carrying wedding guests overturned after colliding with a truck on National Highway-18 near Nandasol Chhak within Betanati police station limits.
In all, 13 people were injured in the accident and admitted to PRM Medical College and Hospital in Baripada, police said.
In Sundergarh district, a motorcyclist was killed on the spot, while two others were seriously injured in an accident near Ghoghar Bundel jungle within Talsara police station limits on Friday night.
The trio was on its way to attend a wedding party, police said.
