DAVANGERE: After a hectic campaign, voting takes place on Thursday in Davanagere South constituency for the byelection. The key contestants are Congress’s Samarth Shamanur Mallikarjun, hailing from a well-entrenched political family in the region, and BJP’s Srinivas T Daskariyappa, a representative of the ST community.
The constituency is considered a Congress bastion with Samarth’s grandfather the late Shamanur Shivashankarappa winning six consecutive times. For the record, the BJP has never tasted success in this turf.
The BJP leadership is eyeing the support of OBC and forward community votes, along with a split in minority community votes. The Congress’s hopes centre on the support of the Veerashiva Lingayats, OBCs, SCs and major portion of the minority votes.
For BJP’s Daskariyappa who has good connections in Davanagere North, the contest is an opportunity to prove his mettle.
Family is Samarth’s biggest strength in the electoral arena. His father, SS Mallikarjun, is a minister in the Siddaramaiah government. Support also comes from his mother, Dr Prabha Mallikarjun, the Davanagare Member of Parliament. Samarth had earlier managed elections in 2023 for his grandfather, father and in 2024, for his mother.
Samarth’s family has undertaken several welfare and developmental works through SS Care Trust, SS Janakalyana Nidhi, free vaccination during the Covid-19 period and through Bapuji General Hospital in Old Davanagere.
The Congress is expecting the support of a large chunk of minority voters. Samarth’s spiritual connect with the Veerashiva Lingayat voters is also expected to work in his favour.
Political pundits, however, caution that dynastic politics may hamper his prospects and say the Congress has been losing its base in the constituency due to dissonance among the minority and OBC voters. They also point out that relative political inexperience may work against the Congress candidate.
Meanwhile, political observers say Daskariyappa may benefit from the BJP’s growing vote base among the OBCs and forward communities.
The BJP campaign was led by former chief minister BS Yediyurappa, the party state unit president BY Vijayendra and other state and national leaders.
Swabhimani Vedike has declared its support Daskariyappa. The BJP has also succeeded to a large extent in overcoming rebellion among the party’s district unit. The BJP is also banking on the likely split in minority votes and polarization of the Hindu votes in the constituency. The BJP also hopes to gain the backing of ST voters.
Observers, however, say that the presence of a large number of minority voters may work against the BJP. They also point out that winnin g over Veerashiva-Lingayat voters may prove a huge task. The BJP has also to overcome factionalism within the party and the shaky nature of the SC votes is another challenge for Daskariyappa.