Karnataka elections 2018: A Left outpost and an electoral outlier

A hotelier and bar owner, a film producer, a film actor with connections to the tainted Ballari miners, a trader-realtor and a communist enter the electoral fray. Voters in the Bagepalli constituency, barely 30 km from Bengaluru’s international airport, are no strangers to such a candidate mix.

With 15 candidates, the nondescript, backward area along the boundary of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh is an electoral outlier: no incumbent MLA has been re-elected since Independence; the constituency has served as a stepping stone to a political career for rich independent candidates, some not even from the same district; and it’s home to arguably the last electorally relevant communist base in the State.

The CPI(M) won here in 1994 and 2004 and had three second-place finishes since the 1990s — all accounted for by 66-year-old G.V. Srirama Reddy, who is contesting for the eighth time from Bagepalli. Nearly half the votes the party receives in Karnataka are his share.

With assets of barely ₹31 lakh, he faces a challenge from three candidates whose average wealth is ₹135 crore. During elections, money flows freely in the constituency where droughts in four of the past five years has worsened agrarian distress.

In his small, two-room rented house that serves as a meeting point for workers, idealism is never in short supply.

“This time, money power will not work. People are getting tired of electing these candidates who do nothing when elected,” says Mr. Reddy, whose campaign is “crowd-funded” by party cadre and villagers.

Plunging share

In the previous elections, the CPI(M) registered just a 0.22% vote share in the State, with 15 of its 16 candidates losing their deposits. “Elections are a business, and those who cannot invest will be phased out. We cannot invest ... but, we hope to do better than last time,” Mr. Reddy says.

But the electoral arithmetic may not be the CPI(M)’s only bane. The gap between ideology and political connect is often seen. In the small town of Chellur, the Left’s roadside rally has some villagers such as T.V. Reddy gripped by the proceedings, apart from the enthusiastic cadre.

“People come from afar to hear him as he talks of national and international matters. There is always something to learn,” he says. Will this fascination transform to votes? “He has done a lot of big works, but he will not help in small works or give personal help and instead asks us to fight for our rights. He is very fiery in person, and people are scared of approaching him,” he says.