Cong tries its luck where JD(S), BJP candidates were chosen

Mysuru: Months after Congress lost the Chamaraja assembly segment in the 2018 polls, it started to work to regain the constituency and inducted K Harish Gowda, who had polled 15.15% votes as an independent. Despite stiff contest from other aspirants to get the ticket, mainly former MLA Vasu, Harish has been successful in getting the Congress ticket as opposition leader Siddaramaiah lobbied hard for him. Weeks before the announcement of the party list, AICC top brass and former CM M Veerappa Moily during his visit to the city made it clear that he will support Vasu. As the competition between Harish and Vasu to secure the party ticket got stiff, the high command could only announce the candidate’s name in the third list.

Though Congress had tried for years, it could not win the segment since 1994 after it lost it to BJP, which is a dominant force in the constituency. BJP’s strongman and former mayor HS Shankarlingegowda had won a record four times in a row when he was with BJP, but lost the segment when he contested from JD(S) in the 2013 polls. JD(S) which has a major presence in the segment winning majority of the wards in the MCC polls, however it is not able to win the Chamaraja assembly constituency even once.The constituency is dominated by Vokkaliga community with over one lakh voters out of the total 2.37 lakh voters. Voters in the segment have always elected a Vokkaliga leader to represent them in the assembly since 1952. Except Shankarlingegowda, none of the MLAs have been re-elected from the constituency.The constituency has predominantly backed candidates from Janata Party or the Bharatiya Janata Party since 1978. Only three Congress leaders – B N Kengegowda (1978), K Harsha Kumar Gowda (1989) and Vasu (2013) - have managed to emerge victorious.A developed segment, the Chamaraja constituency forms Mysuru’s education hub, besides hospitals and industrial suburbs and areas that were developed by the Maharajas of Mysore. While Vokkaliga community are a major force, there are about 24,000 Muslim voters, around 24,000 Kurubas and 8,000 Christians. Harish Gowda said after he lost as an independent during the previous polls, he has been touring the constituency continuously to address the problems of the people. Congress leaders and workers have been working in the wards to highlight the development programmes initiated by the Siddaramaiah government, he said. Mysuru City BJP unit working president Giridhar said people are supporting the party candidate and sitting MLA L Nagendra because of the development activities done over the past 5 years. BJP will do better than the previous elections, he added.Nagendra, who is looking for a second term, had wrested the segment from Congress during the 2018 assembly polls. He had garnered 36.77%. Vasu had polled 36,747 votes while JD(S) candidate KS Rangappa, a former VC, polled 27,284 votes. Harish Gowda, who contested as an independent, had polled 21,282 votes. JD(S) has fielded H K Ramesh, who is son of former MLA H Kempegowda who was elected from the constituency in 1983 on a Janata Party ticket. Trying her luck for the second time is Aam Aadmi Party’s Malavika Gubbivani. During the previous assembly polls, she had polled 483 votes but she continued her fight staying in touch with the segment. She said that people of the constituency want a change after giving opportunities to major political parties.
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