The polling is set to happen in three assembly constituencies – Channapatna, Shiggon and Sandur – on November 13 as by-elections are scheduled at these three seats. The candidates that won from these seats in 2023 assembly elections vacated to contest in Lok Sabha polls and they fell vacant. The ruling Congress party and the BJP-JDS hope to secure the seats and prove their mettle in the southern state.

More than seven lakh voters are eligible to cast their votes in about 770 polling stations in Shiggon, Sandur and Channapatna. A total of 45 candidates are in the fray in this by-election.

Who are the key contestants?

Channapatna

Vacated by former chief minister and current union minister HD Kumaraswamy, the Channapatna Assembly seat turned out to be a high-profile seat in the state. The JDS roped in third-generation JDS leader and son of Kumaraswamy, Nikhil Kumaraswamy, on an NDA ticket, and five-time MLA CP Yogeshwar is contesting against him on a Congress ticket.

Both the BJP-JDS and Congress are aiming to win this seat and secure their stronghold in the old Mysuru region, which is politically a key region in Karnataka. Nikhil, who had lost multiple elections in the past has widely campaigned along with former chief ministers Kumaraswamy and BS Yediyurappa. Meanwhile, CP Yogeshwar who joined the Congress party from BJP too is hoping to become an MLA for the sixth time.

Shiggon

Former Karnataka CM and senior BJP leader Basavaraj Bommai vacated this seat to contest in Lok Sabha elections. Bommai’s son Bharat Bommai secured a ticket from the BJP and he will face Congress party’s Yasir Ahmed Khan. Basavaraj Bommai defeated Khan in 2023 assembly elections and is now fighting another Bommai scion in the by-election. An electrifying poll campaign was conducted in the Shiggon assembly constituency over the last month.

Congress party’s E Tukaram, who won in the 2023 assembly polls, vacated this seat to contest in the Lok Sabha elections. The grand-old party has now fielded his wife E Annapurna from the same seat, and she will fight BJP’s Bangaru Hanumanthu from Sandur. Hanumanthu, a close aide to mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy, is a BJP ST Morcha president and an actor in Kannada movies.