BJP’s Central Election Committee, which released the names of 72 candidates for the high-stake contest in Karnataka, has announced that its chief ministerial candidate for Karnataka, B S Yeddyurappa will contest from Shikaripura assembly constituency.

Veteran state leaders Jagadish Shettar and K S Eswarappa will contest from Hubli Dharwad Central and Shimoga Assembly seats, respectively, media reports said.

Senior party leader J P Nadda released the list of 72 candidates following the committees meeting. The BJP has also fielded its Lok Sabha MP B Sriramulu in the polls.

According to sources, the BJP is likely to field candidates for more than 140 seats and the names of remaining candidates are expected to be revealed soon.

The BJP Central Election Committee at its meeting chaired by party chief Amit Shah and attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday approved the first list for the May 12 Karnataka Assembly elections.

The meeting was preceded by a show of strength with the BJP inducting former Congress MLA Malikayya Guttedar. He found mention in the first list of candidates, with the BJP fielding him from Alzalpur constituency. Another defector, Mallikarjun Khuba, has been accommodated in Basavakalyan.

Resting all speculation, the party will field Eshwarappa, who lost his seat in 2013, from Shivamogga constituency. Sriramulu, a close aide of the infamous Reddy brothers, will be contesting away from Ballari — a seat he famously won after he parted ways with the BJP just before the 2013 elections.

Sitting MLAs Aravind Limbavali, Vijayakumar, Appachu Ranjan, R Ashoka, Ravi Subramanya, S Suresh Kumar, Ashwath Narayana, C T Ravi, S Muniraju, S Raghu, Haladi Srinivas Shetty, Basavraj Bommai, Jagadish Shettar, CM Udasi, Kageri Vishwanath, Govind Karjol, Laxman Savadi among others will contest from the seats they won in the last election.

The elections to the 225-seat assembly are scheduled for May 12.