Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Chamarajpet and Shimoga elections

Karnataka is in election fever again. Chamarajpet and Shimoga are going for polls tomorrow. The reasons for them going to polls twice in a span of 1.3 years are very unusual. SM Krishna who won the Chamrajapet assembly seat was posted as the governor of Maharashtra and had to vacate the post. Bangarappa, ex BJP MP of Shimoga quit BJP and has joined Samajavadi party. This resulted in the re-election for the lok sabha seat.

Chamarajapet - This is a unique constituency in terms of the composition. The area has lot of old Mysorians and is considered as a kannada belt. This would also mean that the upper caste population is high. But the constituency includes KR Market, where the Muslim population is very high. Traditionally people here have voted for BJP or Congress. This time both these parties have to face a 3rd front in JD(S). Congress and BJP have experienced candidates in Devaraj and Pramila Nesargi. Both of them have tasted victory and defeat. Their opponent would be JD(S)'s Zamir Khan. This new entrant is supposed to take some Muslim votes from the market area. Zamir Khan is also relying on the votes from slums after his party chief's (Deve Gowda) hugely popular 'Daridra Narayana samavesha'. But what could turn against the Congress and JD(S) is the anti-government sentiments prevailing in Bangalore. The rest rains and the havoc caused because of it have not helped the ruling combination in any way. Samajavadi party has also fielded a muslim. He is not expected to get back the deposit. With JD(S) and congress splitting the muslim vote BJP have their chances bright. Although the BJP have nothing to boast of after their rout in the center, they seem to be the inevitable choice.

Shimoga - This is an issueless election in shimoga. Bangarappa won in the BJP ticket last time, but to his shock BJP could not come to power in Karnataka and in the center. So his aspirations of becoming the CM or a minister in the center were watered off. Bangari was not even given the BJP chief post in Karnataka. He quit the party and joined Mulayam's samajavadi party. Opposition has termed him as a party hopper and that’s their only point against him. BJP could not field a strong candidate against him and so the battle is between him and Ayanur Manjunath of Congress. The ex-CM looks to be heading for Delhi again.

The result will definitely show a direction for the present Karnataka government. If they win, then they would treat that they are on the right track. If they loose its time for them to correct themselves.

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