Mangaluru : Two prominent Congress leaders K. Jayaprakash Hegde and K. Harikrishna Bantwal have remained in the fray as independent candidates for the forthcoming legislative council polls from Dakshina Kannada-Udupi Local Bodies Constituency, after the last day for withdrawal of nominations on Saturday.

In all, eight candidates would be contesting the December 27 polls from the constituency which sends two members to the Legislative Council.

The candidates are — Prakash Shetty from Thekkatte in Kundapura Taluk (JD-S), K. Prathapchandra Shetty from 75 Halady in Kundapura Taluk (Congress), Praveenchandra Jain from Padangady village in Belthangady Taluk (JD-S), Kota Srinivasa Poojary from Kotathattu village, Kundapura Taluk (BJP), and independents Alphons Pranco from Kuvettu village Belthangady Taluk, Ismail Doddamane from Manjanady village in Mangaluru Taluk, K. Jayaprakash Hegde from Koorgi village in Kundapura Taluk, and K. Harikrishna Bantwal from Amtadi village in Bantwal Taluk.

Consistent efforts by the Congress leadership to persuade the two rebel candidates to withdraw from the fray in favour of official candidate K. Pratapchandra Shetty, remained futile. Both were unhappy over Mr. Shetty’s selection, despite his initial non-inclination for a third term in the Council, and claimed party cadres were unhappy with that decision. The leaders claimed that they submitted the applications to the party only after Mr. Shetty wrote letters to the electorate indicating his desire not to contest for the third term. They also blamed that the incumbent MLC had been inactive and was not accessible to the electorate. They were echoing the sentiments of the party grassroots who wanted new and effective faces to represent the party, Mr. Hegde and Mr. Bantwal had claimed.

Mr. Bantwal, a staunch follower of senior leader B. Janardhana Poojary, had even accused Rajya Sabha Member Oscar Fernandes of bulldozing party workers’ sentiments. On the other hand, Mr. Shetty had said that he was persuaded by party cadres to rescind from his stand not to contest the polls again.

While the Congress is facing tough times, the opposition BJP appears to be in a comfortable position with its official candidate Koota Srinivas Poojary facing no rebellion.

On Saturday, three more Congress cadres, Shankar A. Kundar, Bhujanga Shetty and Harish Kumar and another candidate Abdul Jaleel withdrew their papers.

Party candidates

Prakash Shetty, from Thekkatte in Kundapura Taluk (JD-S)

K. Prathapchandra Shetty, from 75 Halady in Kundapura Taluk (Congress)

Praveenchandra Jain, from Padangady village in Belthangady Taluk (JD-S)

Kota Srinivasa Poojary, from Kotathattu village in Kundapura Taluk (BJP)