Former PM HD Devegowda to file his nomination today

Bangalore: Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) president HD Deve Gowda is filing his nomination from Hassan constituency in Karnataka on Wednesday.

On April 6, Janata Dal (Secular) President HD Deve Gowda and Vice-President Bapu Kaldate released the party manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections in New Delhi on Monday.

The JD(S) manifesto focusses on the rural poor, with Gowda promising to write off all loans of small and marginal farmers borrowed from cooperative and public sector banks from 1991 onwards.

Releasing the party's first list of 16 candidates selected to contest in the state, Deve Gowda told reporters that candidates from the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) would be in the fray from Mangalore and Udupi seats.

Gowda is the only former PM contesting the forth coming Lok Sabha Elections. The district is a known Janata Dal (Secular) stronghold. It was evident from the results of the recent Assembly elections.

Karnataka, which has 28 Lok Sabha seats, goes to polls April 23 and 30. Voting will take place in 17 constituencies in the first phase and for 11 seats in the second.