Bengaluru: In all, 2,655 candidates are in fray for May 12 State Assembly elections, a data from the state Chief Electoral Office said. Mulbagal constituency in Kolar district has the highest number of contesting candidates with 39 in fray for the seat.

According to the data, of the 3,509 who filed valid nominations for the 224-Assembly segments by the last date on Tuesday, 583 candidates withdrew by Friday and 271 were rejected after their papers were scrutinised on Wednesday.

Of the candidates in the fray, including 219 women, 222 are from the ruling Congress, 224 from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 201 from Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), 1,155 Independents and 800 from other national, regional and fringe parties, according to the final list released by the poll panel.

Polling will be held in a single phase for all the 224-Assembly constituencies in the state, including 36 reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and 15 for Scheduled Tribes (STs). Counting of votes will take place on May 15. 

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Bengaluru: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast that the southwest monsoon will cause heavy rainfall likely this weekend and will drench Karnataka over the next 10 days.

The monsoon has begun retreating from northwestern India. Conditions remain active over the south, with an upper air trough extending up to 1.5 km over North Interior Karnataka and northern Tamil Nadu, combined with weakening monsoon winds across the peninsula, is driving the current spell. N. Puviarasan, head of the IMD’s meteorological centre in Bengaluru, said in a conversation with Deccan Herald, “As a result, the whole of Karnataka will see rain over the next week to 10 days."

With a cyclone in the Pacific Ocean along with a low-pressure system over the north Bay of Bengal, the monsoon is expected to intensify during the next four days. IMD has predicted heavy rains across South Interior Karnataka, including Bengaluru, throughout the weekend.


Bengaluru, recorded widespread moderate to heavy rainfall on Thursday. Between 8.30 am and 8.30 pm, Bengaluru city logged 45.9 mm of rain accompanied by thunderstorms. HAL airport registered 6 mm and the Bengaluru Urban automatic station recorded 47.5 mm. Doddathoguru, near Electronics City, reported 55 mm.

According to IMD forecast heavy rainfall will occur at isolated places in Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Yadgir, Koppal, Raichur, Ramanagara and Mandya districts in the next few days.

The southwest monsoon is now expected to extend until mid-October and with little or no break in between, the northeast monsoon is likely to follow immediately. These are expected to last until December. “There may be no break in between,” Puviarasan said.