Rahul Gandhi picks panel of 43 for Karnataka elections

New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday announced a 43-member state election committee for Karnataka, which is due to go to the polls around April-May. The committee, announced by party president Rahul Gandhi, will be headed by state unit chief G. Parameshwara. Besides chief minister Siddaramaiah and AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka K.C. Venugopal, the secretaries in charge of the state and all MPs would be part of the SEC.

Members who are part of the committee include senior party leaders from the state Mallikarjun Kharge, D.K. Shivaku-mar, Dinesh Gundurao, S.R. Patil, M. Veerappa Moily, B.K. Hariprasad, Oscar Fernandes and Margaret Alva, party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said in a statement.

Karnataka is to go to polls in the next few months as the tenure of the 224-member Assembly ends on May 28.

The BJP is working hard to oust the Congress and has said it would contest the Assembly polls under former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa.

The JD(S), which has allied with the Mayawati-led BSP, another major player in the state, may be the deciding factor in case none of the two major parties get a simple majority.

Mr Gandhi began the second leg of his pre-election tour in Karnataka on Saturday. He will be travelling for three days across seven districts in the Bombay-Karnataka region, which played a key role in the Congress’ win in the 2013 polls. He will be travelling through what is considered as the heartland of the Lingayat community, which forms the bulwark of the BJP’s support base in Karnataka.