Anti-incumbency is not a factor in Karnataka

BENGALURU: Past results show sitting members of Parliament from Karnataka have always been favourites with the electorate — irrespective of their party affiliation. Results show MPs representing their constituencies for multiple tenures is a common phenomenon. Some MPs have had a dream run by winning five or more consecutive stints and are still going strong.
In the current (16th) Lok Sabha, 24 of the state’s 27 sitting MPs have served more than one tenure.The remaining — Bhagawant Khuba of Bidar, Pratap Simha of Mysuru-Kodagu and M Chandrappa of Chitradurga and B Sreeramulu from Ballari — are first-timers.
Of the sitting MPs, KH Muniyppa could make history by becoming the first politician from Karnataka to win an eighth consecutive term. He is followed by Uttara Kannada MP Anantkumar Hegde who is seeking re-election for a fourth time in a row. This is excluding his two previous terms before he was defeated in 1999. Prior to Hegde, Devaraya Naik of the Congress held the seat for four times in a row.

Dharwad has elected BJP’s Prahlad Joshi since 2004 and he is seeking another term this year. Before Joshi, industrialist Vijay Sankeshwar had represented the seat for three consecutive terms since 1996, riding on a pro-BJP wave created over the Idgah Maidan issue. Prior to Sankeshwar, the constituency was represented by DK Naiker for four consecutive terms.
Though Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel is seeking re-election for the third time in a row, the constituency has been sending a BJP nominee to Parliament continuously since 1991. Before Kateel, the late V Dhananjay Kumar, who served as minister of state for finance in the AB Vajpayee government, was elected from the constituency for four terms.
Chikkodi constituency in Belagavi also sent B Shankaranand of Congress for a record seven times to the Parliament. He was eventually defeated by Janata Dal’s Ratnamala Savanuru in 1996. Even CK Jaffer Sharief represented Bengaluru North constituency five times. He had also won from Kanakapura.
So what is the reason for this trend? Political pundits say voters in Karnataka look at national issues and perspectives in general elections and local issues and caste equations do not come into play as it does in assembly elections. This rules out anti-incumbency.
“This is the reason why MPs get elected multiple times in Karnataka,” said political analyst Mahadev Prakash. He said the victories of Sharief from Kanakapura, a Vokkaliga dominated constituency, and Y KRV Rao from Ballari are testimonies to the trend. “Despite being a Muslim and from Chitradurga, voters of Kanakapura favoured Sharief,” Prakash said. “Similarly, Rao was from Andhra Pradesh but was elected twice from Ballari.”
It is also being said that since Lok Sabha constituencies are vast and have a huge electorate, voters tend to overlook the personal reputation of candidates.
Political analyst Sandeep Shastri feels that the lack of strong opponents against prominent politicians who made it to Lok Sabha for many terms is also a reason.