The Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) on Wednesday announced a seat-sharing arrangement for the Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka, reports said. The Congress will contest from 20 seats, while the Janata Dal (Secular) will contest from eight seats.

The deal was finalised after at a meeting between Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Janata Dal (Secular) general secretary Danish Ali in Kerala on Wednesday evening. On March 6, Gandhi had met Janata Dal (Secular) chief HD Deve Gowda at the former prime minister’s house in New Delhi.

Karnataka sends 28 members to the Lok Sabha – 15 seats are currently held by the BJP, 10 by the Congress and two by the Janata Dal (Secular).

The Janata Dal (Secular) will field candidates from Uttara Kannadam, Chikkamagaluru, Shimogga, Tumkur, Hassan, Mandya, Bengaluru and Vijayapura, News18 reported. Earlier this month, the Janata Dal (Secular) had announced that Gowda’s gransons Nikhil Kumaraswamy and Prajwal Revanna will be the party’s candidates from its bastions of Mandya and Hassan.

The two parties, which have formed the ruling coalition in Karnataka, have been part of the discussions to form a “grand alliance” against the Bharatiya Janata Party for the Lok Sabha elections across the country. They had joined hands after Assembly elections in May 2018 threw up a hung verdict. The Bharatiya Janata Party, which was the single largest party, was unable to form government.

The 2019 General Elections will be held from April 11 to May 19, with the results announced on May 23. Elections will be held in the state on April 18 and April 23.