The people of the verdant Sringeri constituency in Chikmagalur district have a firm belief: Whichever party wins this Assembly seat goes on to form the state government.
In an amazing sequence of events, right from the first election that the state saw in 1952, this notion has proved to be true.
In 1952, the constituency was called Teertahalli, which also included the present Sringeri Assembly constituency. Kadidal Manjappa of the Congress won then and even went on to become a pro-term chief minister of the state.
The Congress candidate from Sringeri for the May 5 poll T D Raje Gowda told Express: “With Gods’ grace and people’s scrupulous judgment, the candidates are elected. Whoever wins from here will have his party government in the state. Though it is just a belief, it has been proven true since 1952. It is mysterious.’’
Gowda is campaigning intensely in the hope of defeating Food and Civil Supplies Minister and two-term Sringeri MLA D N Jeevraj of the BJP.
Gowda is pinning his hopes on Sringeri’s reigning deity Sharadamba, who, according to him, is responsible for the Sringeri MLA always representing the ruling party.
‘’I have been an ardent devotee of Sharadamba. Sringeri also has the temple of rain god Kigga Rishyasringa, the mutts of Hariharpur, Balehonnur Rambhapuri, NR Pura as well as many churches and mosques,” he said.
People here are pious and peace-loving and that is why the MLA is blessed to belong to the ruling party, he said.
History bears out the belief that Sringeri has the knack to predict the trend in the state and vote for the ruling party.
After the 1952 stint, Manjappa was elected unopposed in 1957 and won again in 1962 on a Congress ticket. His party leader S Nijalingappa was the chief minister then.
In 1967 and 1972 Assembly polls, K N Veerappa Gowda of Congress was elected, when Veerendra Patil and D Devaraj Urs were the CMs.
In 1978, Begane Ramaiah of the Congress won the Sringeri seat, when Urs and R Gundu Rao became chief ministers.
After the Emergency, the Janata Party came to power under the captaincy of Ramakrishna Hegde in 1983 and H G Govinde Gowda of the Janata party won Sringeri with 30,270 votes.
In the mid-term elections held in 1985, Govinde Gowda won again and R K Hegde and S R Bommai shared the chief ministership post.
In 1989, U K Shyamanna of the Congress won. Veerendra Patil, S Bangarappa and Veerappa Moily became chief ministers then.
In 1994, Govinde Gowda won the seat again, representing the Janata Dal. H D Deve Gowda and J H Patel became chief ministers and Govinde Gowda held the primary education minister portfolio. The Congress swept to power in the state in 1999 pushing S M Krishna to the chief minister’s post. D B Chandre Gowda of the Congress won hee with 46,679 votes.
In 2004, D N Jeevraj of BJP won. For the first time in 20 months, the Sringeri MLA did not represent the ruling party as a Congress-JD(S) government was in power. But the Sringeri magic prevailed and a JD(S)- BJP coalition ministry assumed power under H D Kumaraswamy and B S Yeddyurappa for a week.
The BJP romped home in 2008 and Yeddyurappa made Jeevraj a minister, rewarding Sringeri for the support. Now, both Gowda and Jeevraj are struggling hard to capture the voters’ faith, in the hope that the Sringeri trend will continue to work for them.