Karnataka Congress Defends Candidate Announcements for Speaker and Chairman Positions

August 5, 2026

Bengaluru, August 5: The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President B.K. Hariprasad defended the party’s announcement of candidates for the positions of Speaker, Deputy Speaker, and the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council on Tuesday.

He dismissed allegations from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claiming that Congress violated constitutional norms by announcing candidates before the positions became vacant. The Congress high command has nominated G.S. Patil for Speaker, A.S. Ponnanna for Deputy Speaker, Salim Ahmed for Chairman of the Legislative Council, and Umashree for Deputy Chairman.

Hariprasad stated that the party merely announced its candidates and did not appoint anyone to constitutional positions. He remarked, “BJP leaders should read the Constitution first and then look at the Congress party’s letterhead.”

He referenced Articles 178 and 182 of the Constitution, which state that the election of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, as well as the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Council, is conducted by the respective houses.

Hariprasad accused the BJP of deliberately conflating candidate announcements with the constitutional election process. He questioned, “When the BJP calls the announcement of candidates unconstitutional, what else can it be termed but ignorance?”

He cited past instances, noting that in 2019, the BJP announced Vishveshwara Hegde Kageri as its candidate for Speaker before the elections, and the NDA declared Om Birla as its candidate for Lok Sabha Speaker ahead of the 2024 elections. He also mentioned BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari announcing Rathindranath Bose as a candidate for Speaker before voting in West Bengal.

The KPCC chief further alleged that the BJP has no moral authority to preach constitutional values. He reminded that due to irregularities, the court later annulled the election of M.K. Pranesh as Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council.

Hariprasad concluded, “Congress does not need to learn about the Constitution from M.K. Pranesh of the BJP.”