The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party will face another electoral clash in Karnataka in less than two weeks as preparations are made for the second phase of elections in the remaining 14 seats in Sabah on Tuesday.
A head-to-head battle between the ruling Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party is expected in the northern parliamentary segment. The JD(S) is not contesting in these seats and is supporting its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partner the BJP.
There are a total of 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state. The first phase of voting for 14 seats in most southern and coastal constituencies took place on April 26. A total of 227 candidates, 206 men and 21 women, are competing in the second stage.
More than 2.59 billion voters are eligible to exercise their rights at 28,269 polling stations, where voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. The districts where elections will be held on Tuesday are Chikkodi, Belgaum, Bagalkot, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Raichur, Bidar, Koppal, Bellary, Haveli, Dharwad, Uttara Kannada, Davangere and Shimoga.
In the 2019 assembly polls, the BJP won all these 14 seats by a landslide, defeating the Congress and JD(S), which ruled the state in alliance at the time. The Congress, which won a huge victory in last year’s parliamentary elections, now seems determined to put up a strong performance.
Karnataka is the only state in which the Bharatiya Janata Party has been in power in the past, and it is the most important state for the Bharatiya Janata Party. Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Meena told PTI that adequate security measures have been put in place for Tuesday’s voting.
“Around 145,000 polling officials are deployed in 14 electoral districts. In addition, 35,000 civilian police personnel, 65 companies of central paramilitary forces and armed police from other states will be deployed on polling day. “That’s the plan,” he said. In addition to this, 4,000 micro-observers will also be on duty and 17,000 polling stations will be stationed at polling stations, it said. He added that it was featured in a webcasting.
Davangere has the maximum number of candidates at 30, followed by Shimoga with 23 and Raichur with the least number of candidates at eight. Former prime ministers Basavaraj Bommai (Haveli) and Jagadish Shettal (Bhargaum), Union ministers Prahad Joshi (Dharwad) and Bhagwant Kuba (Bidar) — all from the Bharatiya Janata Party. Actor Shivrajkumar’s wife and former CM S. Bangarappa’s daughter, Congress MP Geetha Shivrajkumar (Shimoga) and AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge’s son-in-law Radhakrishna Dodamani (Gulbarga) are among the prominent figures in the fray. He is one of the people.
Also, BY Raghavendra, son of Congress leader and veteran BJP leader BS Yediyurappa, suspended party leader and former deputy CM KS Eshwarappa (both from Shimoga), former Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageli and Bellary native. Former BJP minister B. Sreeramulu is also participating in the contest. Former IAS officer G Kumar Naik, Congress MP from Raichur. At this stage, with children in conflict, the stakes are high for some ministers.
Mrinal Ravindra Hebbalkar and Sagar Khandre, sons of ministers Lakshmi Hebbalkar and Eshwar Khandre, are contesting from Belgaum and Bidar respectively, and daughters of ministers Satish Jarkiholi and Shivanand Patil. Priyanka Jarkiholi and Samyukta Patil are contesting from Chikkodi and Bagalkot respectively. Prabha Mallikarjun, wife of minister SS Mallikarjun and daughter-in-law of veteran Congress leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa, is contesting from Davangere.
Performance in the parliamentary elections, especially in the second phase, which covers almost all Lingayat-dominated constituencies, will be crucial. This is because the party failed to win a single constituency in 2019. It is also important to see whether the great old party managed to hold on. In the 2023 assembly polls, support among some Lingayats, considered the BJP’s core vote base, appeared to have tilted slightly towards the party. Amid speculation of a changing of the guard midway through the parliamentary term, the Lok Sabha elections are seen as a major test of sorts for Congress state unit chief DK Shivakumar, who has made no secret of his ambitions to become chief minister. The stakes are high for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, with a victory seen as key to strengthening his power, analysts said.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from Syndicated News Agency Feed – PTI)
