The BJP late on Wednesday night released its second list of 23 candidates in which six more sitting MLAs have been replaced by fresh faces.
Channagiri MLA Madal Virupakshappa, who is embroiled in a Lokayukta case for alleged bribery, has been replaced with Shiv Kumar.
Similarly, Haveri MLA Neharu Olekar and Mudigere MLA MP Kumaraswamy, both of whom were convicted by a court in separate cases.m, have been dropped. Their tickets went to Gavisiddappa Dyammannavar and Deepak Doddaiah, respectively.
Byndoor MLA Sukumar Shetty, Mayakonda MLA N Linganna, Davangere North MLA SA Ravindranath (he has announced retirement) haven’t got the tickets.
Also, Kalghatgi MLA CM Nimbannavar has been replaced by former Congress MLC Nagaraj Chabbi who joined the BJP recently.
Sitting Harappanahalli MLA Karunakar Reddy has been renominated.
BJP strongman BS Yediyurappa’s relative and former personal assistant NR Santhosh did not get the Arsikere ticket for which he was aspiring.
The BJP is yet to finalise candidates in 12 seats - former CM Jagadish Shettar’s seat Hubli-Dharwad (Central), former minister Aravind Limbavali’s Mahadevapura, former deputy CN KS Eshwarappa’s Shimoga City, Housing Minister V Somanna’s Govindarajanagar, sitting MLA SA Ramdas’ Krishnaraja, sitting MLA Rajkumar Patil’s Sedam, sitting MLA Kalkappa Bandi’s Ron, Koppal, Hebbal, Hagaribommanahalli, Nagthan and Manvi.