Bengaluru, Nov 19

The Chief Electoral Officer rejected 54 nominations filed by 30 candidates for the 15 Karnataka Assembly by-elections, scheduled on December 5, after a day-long scrutiny of 355 candidatures received till Monday, an official said here on Tuesday.

"In all, 301 nominations have been accepted," a poll official told media. Of the 248 candidates, 218 nominations, including 125 Independents, were found valid.

The candidates, include 15 each of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress and 14 of the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), which is not contesting the Hoskote seat in the Bengaluru rural district.

Other contestants include one of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for the Vijayangara seat and two of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for Chikkaballapura and Hunsur seats.

The last date of withdrawal is November 21. The votes will be counted on December 9.

The by-elections have been necessitated by disqualification of 14 Congress and 3 JD-S rebel legislators after they quit the Assembly in July protesting against the coalition government's poor functioning.

Though former Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar disqualified 17 rebel lawmakers on July 25-28 for reportedly defying their party whips, by-elections to Muski (Raichur district) and R.R. Nagar (Bengaluru southwest) have been delayed due to litigation in the Karnataka High Court over their results in the May 2018 Assembly polls.

The by-elections will be held in Athani, Kagwad, Gokak, Yellapura, Hirekerur, Ranibennur, Vijaynagara, Chickballapura, K.R. Pura, Yeshwanthpura, Mahalakshmi Layout, Shivajinagara, Hosakote, K.R. Pete and Hunsur.

54 nominations rejected for Karnataka by-elections