By S.B. Devaraj

The T. Narasipur Constituency (SC reserved), with Triveni Sangama (confluence of three rivers) as its core, is likely to witness an interesting and intriguing battle in the May 10 Assembly polls.

The Constituency was first formed in 1952 with the inclusion of Biligere and Chhatra hoblies of Nanjangud taluk. But in 2008, the Constituency was redrawn with the merger of Bannur Assembly segment and exclusion of Biligere, Kasaba and Chhatra hoblies, which then became part of the newly formed Varuna Assembly Constituency.

Till the 1972 polls, T. Narasipur was a general Constituency, which was later notified as SC reserved Constituency beginning with the 1978 Assembly polls.

S. Srinivas Iyengar of KMPP (Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party) became the first MLA of the Constituency in 1952. Later, M. Rajashekaramurthy of Congress represented it for four consecutive terms — 1957, 1962, 1967 and 1972.

After the Constituency was declared a SC reserved seat, P. Venkataramana of the Congress became the MLA in 1978, followed by V. Vasudeva of the Janata Party in 1983, Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa of the Janata Party in 1985, M. Srinivasaiah of the Congress in 1989, Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa of the Janata Dal in 1994, Dr. N.L. Bharati Shankar of the BJP in 1999, Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa of the JD(S) in 2004 who retained the seat as a Congress candidate in 2008 and 2013 and M. Ashwin Kumar of the JD(S) in 2018.

Interestingly, Dr. Mahadevappa, who is also a former Minister, has represented the Constituency a record number of 5 times, including a hat-trick of wins in 2004, 2008 and 2013. However, M. Ashwin Kumar of the JD(S), who contested the Assembly polls for the first time, broke the Mahadevappa domination by defeating him with a big margin in 2018 polls.

P. Venkataramana of the Indira Congress, won in 1978 defeating the then Janata Party candidate V. Sreenivasa Prasad, who is the current MP of Chamarajanagar.

Dr. N.L. Bharati Shankar, who was the BJP candidate in 1999, became a giant killer then when he defeated Congress stalwart T.N. Narasimhamurthy, a former Minister. In the 2013 polls, Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa of the Congress scraped through by just 323 votes against M.C. Sundareshan of the JD(S), who is now no more. Dr. Mahadevappa later went on to serve as a Minister in the Siddharamaiah-led Congress Government.

The JD(S) has made a head start for the election by announcing the candidature of sitting MLA M. Ashwin Kumar, while the Congress has again allotted the party ticket to old war horse Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa, instead of his son Sunil Bose, who was almost sure of getting the ticket.

However, the BJP is yet to announce its candidate for the seat as there are many aspirants who include former MLA Dr. N.L. Bharati Shankar, Advocate N. Dasaiah, former MLC C. Ramesh, Dr. M. Revanna, S. Shankar, who contested the last time, former TMC Member Arjun Ramesh, S. Aravind and Samrat Sundareshan, the son of late M.C. Sundareshan, who lost by a slender margin to Dr. Mahadevappa, contesting as a JD(S) candidate in the 2018 polls.

Interestingly, Dr. Mahadevappa had sought the Congress ticket from Nanjangud, while leaving T. Narasipur for his son Sunil Bose. But the scenario changed completely with the sudden death of KPCC Working President and former MP R. Dhruvanarayan, who had aspired to contest from Nanjangud.

After Dhruvanarayan’s death, the Congress gave the Nanjangud ticket to his son Darshan Dhruvanarayan owing to the demand of party workers, while allocating the party ticket to Dr. Mahadevappa from T. Narasipur, his home Constituency for decades.

VOTER DATA

The Constituency has a total of 2,02,765 voters, who include 1,00,394 male, 1,02,357 female and 14 other category voters. Women voters outnumber men. There are 227 polling booths.

WINNERS ALL FROM 1952 TO 2018

Year            MLA                                                 Party                                  Number of votes

1952            S. Srinivas Iyengar                            KMPP                                  ———

1957            M. Rajashekhara Murthy                 Congress                             14,028

1962            M. Rajashekhara Murthy                 Congress                             15,469

1967            M. Rajashekhara Murthy                 Congress                             21,455

1972            M. Rajashekhara Murthy                 Congress                             24,002

1978            P. Venkataramana                           Congress                             28,061

1983            V. Vasudev                                       Janata Party                        28,817

1985            Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa                     Janata Party                        33,954

1989            M. Srinivasaiah                                 Congress                             38,915

1994            Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa                     Janata Dal                           51,874

1999            Dr. Bharati Shankar                          BJP                                      28,858

2004            Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa                     JD(S)                                    37,956

2008            Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa                     Congress                             42,593

2013            Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa                     Congress                             53,219

2018            M. Ashwin Kumar                            JD(S)                                    83,624