Bharatiya Janta Party has announced the first list of 72 candidates to contest in the May 12 Karnataka assembly elections for the 224 seats across the southern

state.

The decision was taken at the party’s central election committee meeting which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah and

other senior party leaders, including Rajnath Singh at the party HQ in New Delhi.

Among the candidates are many of the party’s 48 sitting or outgoing legislators from the state’s northern, central and southern region, including Bengaluru, which

has 28 assembly constituencies.

Prominent leaders contesting the elections include party’s chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurapp, Jagadish Shettar and B. Sriramulu.