Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar during the Congress Foundation Day celebrations at the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee office in Bengaluru on Sunday.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Deputy Chief Minister and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D.K. Shivakumar on Sunday announced that the party would release applications for the prospective Congress candidates to apply and contest the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) elections.
The applications will cost ₹50,000 for general category candidates and ₹25,000 for candidates from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities. After a demand came to reduce the application fee for women, Mr. Shivakumar scaled down the fee from ₹50,000 to ₹25,000 for them. The collected money will go towards the building construction fund, he said, adding that the Congress would be incurring ₹20 crore for building Congress Bhavans in districts and ₹60 crores for the State office.
He set the deadline for submitting application to January 15.
Start early preparations
“It is not possible to win the election if you think that poll preparation can be undertaken after the GBA elections are announced. However big a leader you are, D.K. Shivakumar will not identify you if you think that work can be started after election schedule is announced,” he said during the Congress Foundation Day celebrations here.
The KPCC president said that about ₹20 crore was collected through the application fee during the May 2023 elections. “This helped in placing advertisements on behalf of the party.”
When Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who was also on the stage, prodded him to reduce the fee for women, Mr. Shivakumar said, “Because Mr. Siddaramaiah and (Energy Minister) K.J. George are asking, I have reduced the application fee to ₹25,000.” He said that at least 10 women should apply from each ward. “Those who have worked well at the booth level will get opportunities and not those who run behind Mr. Siddaramaiah or me.”
TP and ZP polls
The Congress is expecting that the elections to taluk and zilla panchayats could be held in the next two to three months after resolving the cases in courts over reservation, Mr. Shivakumar said. “I have instructed that even for the taluk and zilla panchayat elections, preparation should be started. I have discussed the issue with Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge too,” he added.
Published – December 28, 2025 09:13 pm IST
