After the formation of the Udupi-Chikmagalur constituency, D.V. Sadananda Gowda of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the seat by defeating former Minister K. Jayaprakash Hegde of the Congress by a margin of 27,018 votes in the 2009 parliamentary elections. Mr. Gowda secured 4,01,441 votes, while Mr. Hegde polled 3,74,423 votes.

But in the 2012 byelections held after Mr. Gowda vacated the seat on becoming the Chief Minister, Mr. Hegde wrested the seat by defeating V. Sunil Kumar of the BJP by a margin of 45,724 votes.

Gopal Poojary, president of the Udupi District Congress Committee (DCC) told The Hindu that the Udupi DCC has recommended only one name, that of Mr. Hegde to the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee.

However, the Chikmagalur DCC has submitted three names — Mr. Hegde and former Ministers B.L. Shankar and D.K. Taradevi Siddartha.

“But Mr. Hegde’s name is most likely to get the nod,” said Vijay Kumar, president of Chikmagalur DCC. However, the situation is quite different in the BJP, where a host of leaders are trying their luck.

According to sources in the party, the names doing the rounds include those of the former Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, former Minister C.T. Ravi, the former MLA Lalaji Mendon, BJP leaders Udaykumar Shetty, Pranesh, Vilas Nayak and M.K. Vijayakumar.

But T.V. Hegde, president of Udupi district unit of the BJP, said the names of Mr. Gowda and Mr. Ravi had been submitted by the party to the State unit. “We expect the candidate to be finalised in a week. Mr. Sadananda Gowda is also trying for Bangalore North seat. Things will become clear only after Mr. Gowda’s case is settled,” said another BJP leader.