Bengaluru, November 10: Karnataka State Election Commission on Sunday said that the by-elections to 15 assembly seats will go as per schedule announced earlier. According to dates, bypolls will be held on December 5. The counting of votes will take place on December 9 and results will be declared on the same day. The model code of conduct comes into effect from November 11, said Chief Electoral Officer Sanjeev Kumar. Karnataka By-Elections 2019: Siddaramaiah, Former CM, Claims Congress Will Win 12 Out of 15 Seats.

Significantly, the announcement of conducting the by-elections means that the disqualified MLAs will not be able to contest. The announcement comes two days after the Supreme Court agreed to hear on November 13 a fresh plea moved by the disqualified Karnataka MLAs seeking a direction to the Election Commission to again postpone the assembly bypolls for 15 seats scheduled on December 5. The Election Commission had postponed the bypolls, which were scheduled on October 21, to December 5 in view of the pendency of the petitions. BS Yediyurappa Government in Karnataka to Remove Tipu Sultan Lesson from School Syllabus.

A bench headed by Justice NV Ramana on October 25 had reserved its verdict on a batch of petitions filed by the 17 MLAs, challenging their disqualification as lawmakers. The by-elections for 15 seats were necessitated after 15 rebel MLAs of the ruling Congress and the JD-S government switched their loyalty to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The 14-month-old Congress-JD-S government led by H.D. Kumaraswamy collapsed after the 15 MLAs resigned as legislators in late July this year.

In a dramatic turn of events, former Karnataka Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar disqualified as many as 17 rebel MLAs till the end of the current assembly term running from 2018 to 2023, a day before the trust vote in the Karnataka assembly. By-elections for Maski seat and RR Nagar seat are not being held as results from there in the May 2018 polls were challenged in the Karnataka High Court and the outcome is pending. (With agency inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 10, 2019 03:14 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).