When Urs, Nijalingappa got elected unopposed

The electoral history of Karnataka shows that the number of candidates contesting per constituency has seen a steady rise over the years.

Average candidates per constituency remained below five till 1978 when the Congress was the dominant party. In fact, the first three elections — of 1957, 1962 and 1967 — had an average of three candidates per constituency.

In the three elections, many Congress candidates were elected unopposed. For instance, in 1962, D. Devaraj Urs was elected unopposed from Hunsur. In the 1967 elections, S. Nijalingappa from Shiggaon and M.Y. Ghorpade from Sandur were elected unopposed.

The 2013 Assembly elections had an average of 13 candidates per constituency. The minimum number of candidates was five, while the maximum was 29. Bellary City, from where Anil Lad of the Congress won, had the maximum number of contestants.