Congress announce first list of candidates for Karnataka elections; Mankal Vaidya to contest from Bhatkal

Bhatkal 15 April 2018 (Bhatkallys News Bureau): The Congress on Sunday finalized the first list of candidates for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly polls. Mankal Vaidya will contest from the party seat in Bhatkal-Honnavar constituency.   Sharada Mohan Shetty will contest from the neighboring constituency Honnavar-Kumta, while Uttara Kannada District in-charge minister RV Deshpande will contest the elections from Haliyal constituency. Other candidates from Uttara Kannada district constituencies include Satish Krishna Sail (Karwar), Bhimanna Naik (Sirsi) and Arbail Hebbar Shivaram (Yellapur). Candidates for 218 seats have been announced by the party. The party will announce names for five other seats at a later date. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will contest from Chamundeshwari constituency. BJP is yet to announce its candidates list, according to the reports Sunil Naik and Ex-Congress MLA JD Naik are battling it out for the ticket from Bhatkal-Honnavar Constituency. The announcement also puts to rest all the speculation  and rumors of local public in Bhatkal that Congress might hand its ticket for Bhatkal-Honnavar Constituency to Muzammil Kazia or former minister RN Naik owing to Mankal Vaidya's differences with RV Deshpande and the MLA pending case in court of law which is expected to deliver its verdict soon, and chances of the MLA being convicted are high. Congress high command has however proved everyone wrong by entrusting Mankal Vaidya with the ticket. Bhatkallys News Bureau/ Ismail Zaorez