Bengaluru, March 26 According to the Karnataka CEO's office, as many as 34 candidates are contesting the by-elections for the Bagalkot and Davanagere South Assembly constituencies.
Official data shows that Bagalkot received 26 nominations, of which 14 were found valid after scrutiny. On the last day for withdrawing nominations on Thursday, five withdrew, and nine candidates are now in the running for the April 9 by-elections.
In Davanagere South, 45 nominations were received, 36 were accepted after scrutiny, and 25 candidates are now contesting.
These by-elections were necessitated by the deaths of sitting Congress MLAs Shamanur Shivashankarappa and H Y Meti in the Davanagere South and Bagalkote Assembly constituencies, respectively.
The Congress has fielded Samarth Shamanur from Davangere South, who is the son of state Mines and Geology Minister S S Mallikarjun and the grandson of Shivashankarappa. The BJP has fielded Srinivas T Dasakariyappa.
In Bagalkote, Umesh Meti, the son of late H Y Meti, is the Congress candidate, and the BJP has fielded Veerabhadrayya Charantimath.
Election authorities said that enforcement teams have intensified expenditure monitoring, with seizures amounting to over Rs 80 lakh so far.
Cash worth Rs 77.34 lakh and liquor valued at about Rs 1.74 lakh have been seized.
A total of 53 FIRs have been registered by surveillance teams and police in connection with the seizure of cash, liquor, and other items.
The Excise Department has booked 15 serious cases, four cases for breach of licence conditions, and 34 cases under the Karnataka Excise Act, in addition to seizing 10 vehicles.
Authorities said that 24 complaints were received through the cVIGIL app, of which 17 were found to be correct and disposed of, while 21 complaints were received on the national grievance portal, with 18 resolved so far.
Under the ENCORE system, 30 applications seeking campaign-related permissions were received, of which 29 have been approved and one rejected, officials said.