Karnataka assembly elections 2023: Can Congress’ Prasad Abbayya make it three in a row this time?

HUBBALLI: Considered a traditional battleground for Congress and BJP, the Hubballi-Dharwad East (SC) constituency this time around offers a multi-cornered fight – on paper, that is. Along with traditional rivals Congress and BJP, there are candidates from AIMIM, SDPI, JD(S), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and several smaller parties in the fray.
Sitting MLA Prasad Abbayya of the Congress is keen on a hat-trick from this constituency where there is quite a proliferation of thickly-populated old city areas. Abbayya is up against Dr Krantikiran of BJP, former MLA Veerabhadrappa Halaharavi of JD(S), former corporator Durgappa Bijawad of AIMIM, Vijay Guntral of SDPI and Basavaraj Tedradal of AAP.
Unlike neighbouring Hubballli-Dharwad Central, which has allowed hat-tricks and even double hat-tricks to its MLAs, no party or candidate has ever turned out to be successful on three occasions on the trot in the reserved Hubballi-Dharwad East seat, which was earlier known as Hubballi City.
Interestingly, in spite of the presence of multiple contenders, the fight is most likely to be primarily between the Congress and BJP, yet again, with the rest of the candidates hoping to split between themselves as much of the Dalit and minority vote pie as possible.
Muslims continue to dominate the constituency with more than one lakh voters from the community, who are once again going to play a decisive role in the outcome for this seat.
For Abbayya, anti-incumbency poses a challenge as a section of the voters are disappointed with the sitting MLA. To what extent he can buck the trend will help determine his success or otherwise.
If voter discontent is something that is keeping Abbayya worried in H-D (East), disgruntled elements within the party are keeping the BJP candidate on tenterhooks. The party’s choice of Dr Krantikiran left the other ticket hopefuls -- namely Chandrashekhar Gokak, former mayor Venkatesh Mestri and Basavaraj Amminbhavi – upset and putting up a united fight is now the biggest challenge for the saffron party.
This seat saw its most intense fight in 1977, when MG Jartarghar of the Janata Party defeated AJ Mudhol of CPI by a margin of just 256 votes.
After the establishment of the BJP, Jartarghar won this seat as the party’s candidate in 1983.
The 2013 elections saw BS Yediyurappa’s KJP emerge as a political force. Though Abbayya won as the Congress candidate, the combined votes polled by BJP’s Halaharavi and KJP’s Shankarapppa Bijwad were much more than what went to Abbayya’s kitty. In 2018, however, Abbayya beat his nearest rival, BJP’s Chandrashekhar Gokak, by a huge margin.