Belgaum, Karnataka's Congress unit working president Satish Jarkiholi on Monday filed nomination to contest for the Belgaum Lok Sabha by-election on April 17 in the presence of the Opposition party's state leaders.

"Jarkiholi filed four sets of nomination papers, proposed by the party's state unit president D. K. Shivakumar, opposition leader in the Assembly Siddaramaiah, senior leaders R. V. Deshpande and M. B. Patil," a party official told IANS here.

The by-election is being held to fill the vacancy caused by the Covid death of Union Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi on September 23, 2020.

Satish (58) is the younger brother of the ruling BJP's tainted former state minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, who is embroiled in the sleaze CD that has rocked the southern state recently.

BJP has fielded Mangala, widow of Angadi, to retain the high-profile seat, which the late member held for four consecutive terms since 2004.

Satish is a Congress legislator from the Yemakanmardi assembly seat in the border district of the state.

"The people of Belagaum should give me an opportunity to represent them in Parliament and work for their welfare as I have been doing as an MLA and earlier as an MLC (member of legislative council) and as a minister in the past," Satish told reporters after filing the nomination.

Satish was Minister for Forests and Environment in the 14-month-old Janata Dal-Secular-Congress coalition government during 2018-2019.

"I am sure the people will bless me to work for them as an MP too," Satish added.

In addition to Satish, 11 more candidates filed nominations to enter the fray.

Mangala will file her nomination on Tuesday, which is the last date for filing nominations for the contest.

As per the schedule, scrutiny is on March 31 and last date for withdrawal of nominations on April 3. Vote count is on May 2.

By-elections are also being held on April 17 for two Assembly seats at Basavakalyan in Bidar district and Maski (ST) in Raichur district in the state's northern region.

Vacancy for the Basavakalyan seat was caused due to the Covid death of opposition Congress legislator B. Narayan Rao on September 24, 2020 at a private hospital in Bengaluru.

The Maski reserved seat has fallen vacant after Congress rebel MLA Pratap Gowda Patil resigned in July 2019 and defected to the ruling BJP.