Former union minister and veteran Congress leader B. Janardhan Poojary was Sunday declared the ruling party's candidate from the Mangalore parliamentary constituency following his victory in the primary held during the day.

 

 The Lok Sabha constituency in the Dakshina Kannada coastal district, about 350 km from Bangalore, is held by Bharatiya Janata Party's Nalin Kumar Kateel, who has been re-nominated to contest in the elections to be held April 17 for the 28 parliamentary seats in the state.

 

 "Poojary secured 478 of the 547 votes polled in the internal election, while the other candidate U. Konachur Monu could get only 62 votes," a party official told IANS here.

 

 Monu is the vice president of the party's minority cell. Though the party had 598 registered voters for the primary, 51 were disqualified for not having proper voter ID card. The Congress decided to select candidates for two parliamentary seats – Mangalore and Bangalore North – through primaries.

 

 The primary for the Bangalore North constituency will be held March 13. Though eight candidates filed nominations for the primary, only four were accepted by the returning officers. The four in the fray are C. Narayanswamy, G.C. Chandrashekar, M.V. Rajeev Gowda and N.L. Narendra Babu.