MLC polls: Congress, BJP, JDS fight it out in Old Mysuru

MYSURU: Even before the political heat is dying down after the Rajya Sabha elections, the battle for the Legislative Council election from the South Graduates’ constituency has turned prestigious for all the three major parties, with BJP aiming to spread its wings in the Vokkaliga belt. Congress wants to take advantage of the rift in JDS and create history by winning the seat for the first time, while JDS, dented by an open rebellion by a few leaders, wants to retain the seat in the Vokkaliga heartland.

BJP, exhorted by Amit Shah and JP Nadda during their visits to the state to expand its base in Old Mysuru, redrawn its strategy as it lost the previous poll by a thin margin in Congress and JDS bastion.The party chose senior functionary MV Ravishankar over former MLC G Madhusudhan and more than half-a-dozen aspirants. A victory here is crucial for the party as it will be at the backyard of Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah giving it a big boost ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections. It will also ensure a majority for the party in the Upper House allowing it to pass bills easily. 

But the presence of independent candidate NS Vinay from the dominant Veerashaiva community and too many candidates in the fray has made BJP leaders knock on the doors of voters favouring other parties for second-preference votes. For Congress, it will be a historic win and its hopes are up as JDS has been hit by internal strife. JDS MLA G T Deve Gowda is sulking, while sitting MLC Marithibe Gowda is openly campaigning for Congress, making chances bright for the Grand Old Party to win the seat for the first time.

Congress announced the candidature of former MP G Made Gowda’s son Madhu G Made Gowda’s in advance giving him enough time to interact with voters. JDS, which has won in previous elections here, is banking on over 58,000 Vokkaliga votes out of the total electorate of 1.33 lakh. It has gone all out to canvass for its candidate HK Ramu, who is a former president of the Karnataka State Government Employees’ Association. Despite the rebellion by Marithibe Gowda, his follower Kirale Jayaram and other supporters of senior party leader HD Kumaraswamy have thrown their weight behind Ramu. 

CANDIDATES

 M V Ravishankar (BJP)
 Madhu G Made Gowda(INC)
 HK Ramu (JDS)
 Rafath Ulla Khan (SDPI)
  BH Channakeshava Murthy (BSP)
 N Veerabhadraswamy (RPI)
 J Arun Kumar (Ind)
 Vatal Nagraj
 C Kavya Shree
 Puttaswamy
 N Prassanna Gowda
 K P Prasanna Kumar
 M Mahesh
 J C Ravindra 
 N Rajendrasingh Babu
 S Ramu 
 NS Vinay
 H L Venkatesh
 H P Sujatha