Announcing its first list of 189 candidates on Tuesday, the BJP pitted senior Minister R Ashoka against Siddaramaiah in the Varuna Assembly segment, while V Somanna would take on Shivakumar in Kanakapura.
Many candidates in Karnataka put off their move to file nominations for the May 5 assembly elections on Wednesday owing to 'amavasya', considered inauspicious, as the poll process was set in motion.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday released its first list of 189 candidates for the May 10 Karnataka assembly polls, fielding Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai from his traditional Shiggaon constituency.
Protests marked by stray incidents of stone pelting erupted during a bandh in Kolar district of Karnataka over the death of an IAS officer who allegedly committed suicide, even as police said they were probing his death from "every angle".
As the 35-year-old IAS officer D K Ravi's death rocked the Assembly with public pressure also building up for a CBI probe, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the Crime Investigation Department would probe the case to unravel the "truth" -- whether it was a suicide or murder or due to "some other" reasons.