The regional party claims that it is working overtime to reverse its past mistakes In the past, party candidates had very little time to canvass, owing to late announcement of candidature Names of candidates to be announced after creation of booth level committees in 224 constituencies
Aspirants vying to contest the 2018 Assembly polls on a JD(S) ticket have reason to cheer. The party is likely to announce names of 118 candidates in the month of July itself, and not keep the exercise pending.
The regional party is infamous for issuing tickets days before the polls, leaving very little time for the candidate to approach his/her constituency voters. This has left several candidates in doldrums in the past elections.
Conceding that the party was forced to change its strategy this time around, JD(S) State president H D Kumaraswamy had earlier this year said that candidatures will be announced months ahead of the polls. And much to the relief of the ticket aspirants, the party is finally headed in that direction.
JD(S) MLA from Navalgund, N H Konaraddi told Aisanet Newsable that the party would announce names of 118 candidates or more, during a convention in Hubballi in mid-July.
“Names of 118 candidates, including 25 from North Karnataka, has been readied. Once the party completes the exercise of appointing office bearers from booth level to district level, the party will announce the first list of candidates. About 80 per cent of the booth level committee work has already been completed. The party aims to announce the list by mid-July or end of July,” he added.
The MLA said that in some instances wherever the party had identified winnable candidates, their names had already been announced. “Kumaraswamy, who is touring extensively across the State, has already announced names of 20 candidates so far. The latest was in Badami, where it was decided to give the ticket to a first time candidate Hanumantha Mavinmarad,” he said.
Konaraddi said that the party was eager to name the candidates at this juncture as it was certain of the experiment paying off. “Wherever Kumaraswamy has been travelling, people are expressing their desire to see change - they are fed up with the Congress and the BJP. We are hoping that these sentiments will be converted to votes,” he added.
The party has always focused its strategies in the Cauvery basin, thereby neglecting the North Karnataka districts. By choosing Hubballi, the party is making a conscious attempt at shifting focus to the North Karnataka districts.
Chikkanayakanahalli MLA C B Suresh Babu, who is overseeing creation of booth level committees in all 224 constituencies and appointment of officer bearers, said that in the past, the party had failed to garner votes as it did not have a base level network. The party had never bothered to create booth level committees earlier.
“Once committees are strengthened from booth to the district level, it will be easier for the party to identify good candidates. Earlier, though elections were fought under a mass leadership, it was not converting to votes as we lacked cadre based politicians,” added Babu.
