Bypoll fever grips Gandhinagar Ward

BANGALORE: With just 48 hours remaining to file nominations for the by-election and less than two weeks for the election, candidates contesting for Gandhinagar ward (Ward No 94) are gearing up to contest the election. While some candidates are preparing for a door-to-door campaign, a few candidates are yet to file their nomination papers. The by-election to this ward necessitated following the death of corporator S Nataraj. He was murdered in October last year. The by-election is being conducted on February 26. As on Monday, eight candidates had filed their nominations and candidates have time to file nominations till February 15 and they will be verified on February 16. Last date to withdraw the nominations is February 18. The counting of votes will take place on February 29.Congress candidate T Gopala Krishna filed his nomination on Monday. According to the  sources from Congress, at least 15 per cent of the Gandhinagar ward population belongs to 24 Manai Telugu Chettiar community and Gopala Krishna belongs to the same community. “He is a businessman and a cloth merchant. He is also a resident of Gandhinagar ward and knows the pulse. That is the reason we selected him,” sources said. Gopala Krishna, was confident of winning. “Gandhinagar is a Congress belt. After contacting MLA Dinesh Gundu Rao, I will soon start door-to-door campaign along with our party workers,” he said.While from BJP, G Ramachandra filed nomination on Monday. “Ramachandra is yet to get his B-form and he filed without B-form. However, we have zeroed on Ramachandra as BJP candidate,” sources said. Ramachandra was elected twice as Chickpet Councillor. Later, after the ward was reserved for women category, his wife Gayatri had contested and won. Speaking to Express, Ramachandra said that he had lost the election with just 500 votes against Nataraj. “I am confident this time. Public will not vote for Congress,” he added.