SC, STs to call the shots, JD(S)-BJP has an edge

Bengaluru: Being reserved for the Scheduled Caste, this historic Lok Sabha constituency has 20 per cent of voters belonging to Scheduled Caste communities, followed closely by Muslims, OBCs, and Micro OBCs.

This seat is reserved for the Scheduled Castes. Bijapur is officially known as Vijayapura and is also the headquarters of Bijapur district. Sprinkled with the relics of the Adil Shahi dynasty and slave rules, it is famous for its historical monuments. According to the election commission statistics, the constituency has 16.22 lakh voters. Among these, 8.47 lakh are men voters and 7.74 lakh are women voters.

Bijapur is one of the top constituencies for rural voters as 77 per cent of the total population of Bijapur resides in rural areas. This Lok Sabha seat was once a stronghold of the Congress, but from the 90s, the BJP began to gain ground.

This seat was initially part of the Bombay State and then Mysore State. It was included in Karnataka from the 1977 Lok Sabha election.

Out of the total 17 Lok Sabha elections held here so far, the Congress has won 9 times, while the BJP has managed to edge out Congress party since 1990s continuously for five times.

The equations might change in 2024 definitely for BJP as the party has tied up with the Janata Dal (Secular) which had stood in the second position in with over 3.7 lakh votes. Between BJP and JDS there were over 10 lakh votes in 2019 Mandate: In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, BJPs Ramesh Chandappa retained this seat with 6,35,867 votes.

Janata Dal (S) Sunita Chavhan came second with 3,77,829 votes. The voter turnout in the 2019 election for the Bijapur Lok Sabha seat was 61.70%. The alliance party leaders say that we are not expecting the constituency to witness more than 70 per cent this time, even though it is a win-win situation for the alliance.

However, there is a silver lining on the cloud for the Congress party this time as Bijapur is also the largest beneficiary in terms of in the five guarantees launched by the Congress party ahead of the state assembly elections in 2023. The rural rustics and financially poor people had accepted the party with open hands and returned six MLAs from the Congress party, conceding one constituency each for BJP and JDS.

BJP’s firebrand and maverick leader Basanagouda Patil Yatnal from Bijapur City and Rajugouda Patil from JD(S) from Devara Hippargi were the only two seats that the Congress party lost in 2023. Muddebihal, Basavana Bagevadi, Babaleshwar, Nagthan, Indi, and Sindagi have been wrested by the Congress party.

It is also an acid test for MB Patil from one of the heavyweights of the Siddaramaiah cabinet to get the creditable performance of the party candidate in Bijapur. Since there are already theories doing rounds that after the Lok Sabha elections, the Karnataka government will get the axe, it is evident that the Congress MLAs will be sparing no effort to get their candidate HR Alagur to win. While BJP appears to be very comfortable in its standing in the constituency, their candidate Ramesh Jigajinagi a senior politician who has won multiple times.