Karnataka bypolls: Congress keeps it within family; nominates Umesh Meti and Samarth Mallikarjun

The Congress high command has finalised the names of its nominees for the upcoming bypolls in Karnataka. Umesh Meti, the younger son of H.Y. Meti, will contest from Bagalkot and Samarth Mallikarjun will fight from Davangere.

Umesh Meti will fight to retain his father’s seat and Samarth Mallikarjun will enter the fray to protect his grandfather Shamanur Shivashankarappa’s legacy.

Samarth Mallikarjun has already filed a set of nominations on March 20. He was accompanied by his mother Prabha Mallikarjun, MP and others.

It was a generally believed that the Congress ticket would stay within the Shamanur family. However, there was speculation that it may be given to one of the two brothers of minister S.S. Mallikarjun — S.S. Ganesh and S.S. Bakkesh. Following a few such reports, Mr. Mallikarjun offered to resign from the cabinet, if that would convince the party to nominate his son.

The four sisters of the minster — Dr. Manjula, Ms. Sudha, Dr. Shylaja, and Dr. Meena Patil — are not active in public life.

There was also a demand from within the Congress that the ticket be given to a leader of the Muslim community, that forms a significant portion of the city’s electorate. But that request was not fulfilled. Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar told reporters in Bengaluru on Saturday (March 21, 2026) that the Muslim community from Davangere would be “adequately represented” in the coming days.

Bigger troubles in Bagalkot

The problems of the ruling Congress, however, were bigger in Bagalkot. Three of the four children of H.Y. Meti, were aspirants. His elder son Mallikarjun Meti, younger son Umesh Meti and daughter Mahadevi Meti had sought the ticket. Mahadevi Meti even announced that she would file nominations as an independent if the Congress did not field her. This had automatically blocked all claims from outside the Meti family.

The issue was resolved after the intervention of CM Siddaramaiah, who was a close friend of H.Y. Meti. The CM summoned all of Mr. Meti’s children — including the eldest daughter Bayakka, who had not sought a ticket — to Bengaluru and held a meeting on March 18. Mahadevi Meti demanded that the ticket be given to her or Umesh Meti. She was not in favour of Mallikarjun Meti getting the ticket. As if acting on this cue, the Congress leadership chose Umesh Meti, the low-profile sibling.

R.B. Thimmapur, Bagalkot district in-charge minister, has announced that the nominations would be filed in Bagalkot on Monday (March 23, 2026). CM Siddaramaiah and other leaders are expected to be present.