BENGALURU: One week from now, on June 11, Jayanagar constituency will be the last one to go to polls. Though the outcome will not be significant to influence the State government, both Congress and BJP are pushing hard for a win in the constituency to increase their strength in the Legislative Assembly. The demise of BJP candidate B N Vijayakumar, the two-time MLA who had a clear edge in the constituency, resulted in Election Commission countermanding polls in Jayanagar. Sympathy wave for the BJP along with a social media campaign to nominate one of Vijayakumar’s family members as the MLA candidate led to the candidature of Vijayakumar’s brother, B N Prahlad.
Despite the candidature of Sowmya Reddy, daughter of MLA Ramalinga Reddy who has represented Jayanagar four times and currently BTM Layout MLA, the popularity of Vijayakaumar was expected to propel BJP for a hat-trick victory in Jayanagar. But, following his death, BJP’s prospects have taken a hit due to the dissent from local corporators from the constituency. Jayanagar is comprised of seven wards - six of which are represented by BJP corporators. As soon as the candidature was announced, one of the corporators has been vocal against Prahlad’s candidature while demanding the ticket for himself.
As a result, BJP appears to be on the verge of losing the Jayanagar seat — which it has won both the times since delimitation in 2008. However, Prahlad said that even the corporators of the constituency had chosen him first, when BJP decided to select a candidate. “The corporators have been backing us. In the beginning too they had said that one of them would contest only if one of our family members was not interested,” he said.
Though Sowmya Reddy has made her mark in the constituency, her path to the Vidhana Soudha hinges predominantly on the fame of her father Ramalinga Reddy. Sowmya, who has worked with Youth Congress in Bengaluru, will be taking the electoral plunge for the first time.Though Jayanagar is a BJP stronghold, Sowmya is expected to put up a tough fight and is even being considered the front-runner in the constituency at the moment.
While JD(S) candidate Kalegowda might find this election difficult, independent candidate Ravikrishna Reddy hopes that his campaigning lasting seven months will finally win him an election. Maintaining that it was hard to win an election as an independent, he said that residents of Jayanagar voted on the basis of candidates, rather than parties. “Even in the last Lok Sabha elections, a seasoned politician like Ananthkumar secured almost the same number of votes as Congress candidate Nandan Nilekani in the Jayanagar segment of Bengaluru South Lok Sabha constituency,” he said.