By Mohan Kayaka

The city’s Narasimharaja (NR) Constituency, a minority-dominated Constituency, has been a Congress stronghold ever since it was formed in 1952 with the current Congress MLA Tanveer Sait recording five straight victories since 2002 after his father Aziz Sait passed away in 2002. The Constituency was known as the Mysore North Constituency when it was first formed in 1952. But subsequently, it was renamed Narasimharaja Constituency in 1967 and since then it has been dominated by the Sait family. Of the 16 elections held thus far, Muslim candidates have won 13 times from here.

The Constituency covers 21 Wards of the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) under which localities such as Bannimantap, Kesare, Rajeevnagar, Shantinagar, Udayagiri, Satyanagar, Rajendranagar, Subashnagar, Veeranagere, Gandhinagar, N.R. Mohalla, Kyatamaranahalli, Ghousianagar, Azeez Sait Nagar, Kalyanagiri, Sathagalli, Yeraganahalli, Raghavendranagar, Giriabovipalya, Gayatripuram etc., come.

T. Mariappa of Congress was the first Legislator of the Constituency in 1952 followed by Mohammad Sait (Independent) in 1957 and B.K. Puttaiah contested on a PSP (Praja Socialist Party) in 1962. But since 1967, when the then Mysore North Constituency was renamed as Narasimharaja Constituency, the Sait family has taken over the Constituency winning all elections since 1967 barring in 1985 and 1994.

The current MLA Tanveer Sait’s father Aziz Sait set the winning tone by winning the seat in 1967 and subsequently on a Congress ticket in 1972 and 1978. But in 1983, Aziz Sait contested on a Janata Party ticket and won defeating the Congress candidate.

But Sait returned to the Congress a few months later and successfully contested the Lok Sabha seat from Dharwad South (Haveri) in the 1984 General polls that were held after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. As such, Aziz Sait did not contest the 1985 Assembly polls, which however was retained by the Congress candidate Muktharunnisa Begum.

Aziz Sait contested again on a Congress ticket in the 1989 Assembly polls and won. However, in 1994, Sait, who could not get the Congress party’s B form in time, contested as an independent candidate with an aeroplane symbol. He however, lost to Marutirao Pawar of the BJP, with the party winning the seat for the only time to date. But Aziz Sait again contested on a Congress ticket in the 1999 polls and won. Three years later (2002), he passed away, thus necessitating the by-polls, which were won by his son Tanveer Sait. Since then, Tanveer has never lost the Assembly polls and won four Assembly polls successively in 2004, 2008, 2013 and 2018.

But is to be seen whether Tanveer, who has got the Congress ticket again for May 10 Assembly polls, will continue with his winning streak. His father, the late Aziz Sait, had won 6 times between 1967 and 2002 when he died.

While the Congress has announced the candidature of Tanveer Sait for the seat, the JD(S) and the BJP are yet to name their candidates. In the 2018 Assembly polls, Tanveer won the seat defeating S. Satish (Sandesh Swamy) of the BJP by over 18,000 votes, with SDPI Candidate Abdul Majid finishing third.

However, speculations are doing the rounds that the JD(S) may field its State President C.M. Ibrahim, a Muslim, from the Constituency. The BJP will likely choose between former Mayor Sandesh Swamy, who contested the last polls and party leaders H.G. Giridhar and G. Satish.

VOTER DATA

The Constituency has 2,83,903 voters, who include 1,37,738 males, 1,46,119 females and 46 other voters. Here too, women voters outnumber men. It has 282 polling booths and 2,374 physically challenged voters. Narasimharaja has 6,368 voters who are above 80 years of age and 4,944 young voters.

WINNERS ALL FROM 1952 TO 2018

Year                          MLA                                    Party

1952                                   T. Mariyappa                                Congress

1957                                   Mohammad Sait                         Independent

1962                                   B.K. Puttaiah                                PSP

1967                                   Azeez Sait                                      SSP

1972                                   Azeez Sait                                      Congress

1978                                   Azeez Sait                                      Indira Congress

1983                                   Azeez Sait                                      Janata Party

1985                                   Muktharunnisa Begum            Congress

1989                                   Azeez Sait                                      Congress

1994                                   E. Marutirao Pawar                   BJP

1999                                   Azeez Sait                                      Congress

2002 (by-poll)                Tanveer Sait                                 Congress

2004                                   Tanveer Sait                                 Congress

2008                                   Tanveer Sait                                 Congress

2013                                   Tanveer Sait                                 Congress

2018                                   Tanveer Sait                                 Congress