The sleepy northern town of Kundagol in Dharwad district is set to witness a high-pitched battle between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party in the byelection. State-level leaders themselves monitoring the day-to-day campaign here is an indication of the importance of these elections.
The bypolls were necessitated following the death of former Minister C.S. Shivalli of the Congress. Considering the scenario in the State, where slight changes in numerical strength of parties may upset the political equation, both the Congress and the BJP have taken this byelection seriously.
The Congress-JD(S) alliance has chosen Shivalli’s wife Kusumavati Shivalli, while former MLA S.I. Chikkanagoudar has been fielded by the BJP.
What has added to the seriousness of the poll battle is Kundagol’s electoral history of striking surprise results. No party or candidate can treat this segment as their bastion as over the years, voters here have elected candidates from Congress, Janata Parivar, Independents and the BJP instead of confining to one party.
Political observers feel that Kundagol has humbled even stalwarts in the polls. Former Chief Minister S.R. Bommai, a native of Kamadolli village falling under its purview, was not an exception either. He won from here in the 1967 elections as a Socialist Party candidate, but was defeated subsequently and never contested from here again. In the 2018 polls, Congress candidate Shivalli defeated Mr. Chikkanagoudar by a slender margin of 634 votes.
The BJP has given one more chance to Mr. Chikkanagoudar, a relative of BJP State president B.S. Yeddyurappa, considering his defeat by a small margin last time.
The Congress opted for Ms. Kusumavati to benefit from the sympathy factor. Although she had hardly ventured into public life during Shivalli’s time, she has now swung into full action.
Interestingly, a strange type of sympathy wave is visible in this constituency. While Ms. Kusumavati appears to be riding high on the sympathy generated from the death of her husband, the voters have also expressed sympathy for Mr. Chikkanagoudar for losing the 2018 elections by a wafer-thin margin. This apart, caste is also likely to play a role in deciding the fate of the candidates. Mr. Chikkanagoudar is a Lingayat, whereas Ms. Kusumavati belongs to the Kuruba community and members of both these communities have strong presence here.
In 2018, Shivalli bagged 64,871 votes against 64,237 votes by Mr. Chikkanagoudar. The JD(U) candidate Hazarat Ali Sheik Jodmani and M.S. Akki of the JD(S) had bagged 7,318 and 6,280 votes, respectively, and both of them were believed to have taken away a major chunk of minority votes. As the JD(S) has now supported the Congress and the JD(U) has not fielded a candidate, it is remaining to be seen which way their vote banks swing. Besides, the presence of six Independent candidates may also impact the results.