On May 5, 2013 Karnataka will vote for its Legislative Assembly. Amongst the campaigners are not one or two but 7 former Chief Ministers and the current Chief Minister. This will be the 13th Assembly Elections held in the state.
What are Assembly Elections?
Assembly elections are held to form state governments once every 5 years. The people elected during this elections are known as Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). The Legislative Assembly deals with matters related to the creation of new state laws and amendments or abolishment of existing laws. Once elected a MLA must serve a term of 5 years.
Karnataka Legislative Assembly
The Karnataka Legislative Assembly has 224 members. Each of these members is a representative of a constituency in the state. To form a government, a party needs to have at least a 50% majority or 113 of the 224 seats.
Campaigning for 2013 Assembly Elections
There are 5 main political parties campaigning for the 2013 assembly elections. The Congress party has 223 candidates making it the party with the maximum number of candidates. The BJP and JD(S) are both fielding 222 candidates each. The KJP has 209 candidates while the BSR Congress has 150 candidates.
The 7 former Chief Ministers and current CM campaigning for their party are:
- Veerappa Moily, Congress (Nov 19, 1992 – Dec 11, 1994)
- H.D. Deve Gowda, JD(S) (Dec 1994 – May 31, 1996)
- S. M. Krishna, Congress (Oct 11, 1999 – May 28, 2004)
- Dharam Singh, Congress (May 28, 2004 – Jan 28, 2006)
- H.D. Kumaraswamy, JD(S) (Feb 3, 2006 – Oct 8, 2007)
- B.S. Yeddyurappa, BJP (was in KJP during 2013), Nov 12, 2007 – July 31, 2011
- D. V. Sadananda Gowda, BJP (Aug 4, 2011 – July 12, 2012)
- Jagadish Shettar, BJP (July 12, 2012 – present)
