Davangere South: Close contest on the cards while minorities are divided over supporting Shamanur family

After having campaigned extensively for three days earlier, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was back in Davangere again on Sunday, in a bid to reach out to AHINDA voters who seem to be more divided this time on who should be their representative in Davangere South Assembly constituency.

In a constituency where the grand old man of the Congress, Shamanur Shivashankarappa, never lost since it was created after delimitation in 2008, for the first time, minorities have kept the Congress leaders on tenterhooks in the byelection, the polling for which is scheduled on April 9.

The Davangere South constituency which was carved out from the erstwhile Davangere Assembly constituency in 2008, is not geographically compact. Although named as Davangere South as it comprises cluster of villages in the south of Davangere, the constituency has several municipal wards in the north of Davangere predominantly inhabited by Muslims and working class.

Muslims have been demanding representation in the constituency and contesting as Independents since 2008. This time, 13 out of the total 25 candidates in the fray are Muslims.

However, barring the 2013 elections when JD(S) candidate Syed Saifulla Karekatte stood second with over 26,000 votes, none of the Muslim candidates have been able to reach five figures. But the voting patterns indicate that it is the Muslim votes that decide the victory and also the winning margin, as evident in the last four elections.

Lingayats form the next big chunk of voters in the constituency, followed by Kurubas, Marathas, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes and others.

Main contenders

Among the 25 candidates in the fray, the main contenders are the BJP’s Srinivas T. Dasakariyappa and the Congress’ Samarth Mallikarjun.

While Mr. Dasakariyappa is the State vice=president of the ST Morcha of the BJP, Mr. Samarth, a political novice, is the son of Minister S.S. Mallikarjun and grandson of the late Shamanur Shivankarappa, whose demise has necessitated the byelection.

The issues

Representation for Muslims, more particularly the lack of it, has been the talking point of the byelection, especially among the younger Musim voters, which ultimately resulted in Congress leader Sadiq Pahilwan’s rebellion, who has subsequently ‘retired’ from the contest.

The other talking point is the choice of Congress candidate, whose father is a Minister and mother an MP.

While the Shamanur family members are making high claims about the development ushered in by them, non-accessibility to representative and lack of development in Davangere South compared to Davangere North are the other two issues, which are being highlighted by their opponents.

Although Mr. Pahilwan has ‘retired’ from the contest, the Congress seems to be worried about at least three candidates of the total 13 Muslim candidates, who may eat into the Congress vote share. So it is making efforts to woo the voters of other communities, mainly Lingayats and Kurubas.

On the other hand, the BJP is trying to consolidate the votes of SCs and STs and others along with the Lingayat and Maratha votes through community leaders.

Vinaykumar G.B., a young entrepreneur, who contested as an Independent after being denied Congress ticket in the Lok Sabha elections, is now appealing for votes in favour of the BJP through ‘padayatras’ by his ‘Swabhimani Balaga’.

As the poll campaign is nearing conclusion and the Congress has made another attempt to placate Muslim voters through Housing Minister B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan, the outcome seems to depend on the final decision of the minorities.