BENGALURU: Rajarajeshwari Nagar, a large constituency connecting Mysuru Road to Tumakuru Road via Magadi Road, is likely to witness a fierce contest between minister Munirathna, who is seeking re-election on a BJP ticket, and Kusuma H of the Congress, who contested the 2020 by-polls.
The Election Commission, district election officials and police are putting in place all measures for fair elections, to ensure there is no repeat of 2018-19 allegations of fake voter IDs.
Even as there is an inclination among BPL voters towards Munirathna, Congress is leaving no stone unturned to put up a tough battle. The Congress is working to connect with voters below the middle class, who gave an edge to Munirathna in the last election. For the Congress, the constituency of 14 wards becomes more important as it falls under Congress MP DK Suresh’s parliamentary constituency, Bengaluru Rural.
Both the Congress and BJP are trying to woo neutral voters, and are also focussing on increasing voter turnout. With just 45.40 per cent, RR Nagar was among the constituencies in Bengaluru that recorded low voter turnout last time.
Kusuma, the wife of late IAS officer DK Ravi, has been working in the constituency since 2020, after she lost the bypolls. JDS candidate Narayan Swamy also seems to be making an effort to connect with voters.
The constituency houses 4,57,935 voters of mixed demography. It houses slums, educational institutions including the Jnanabharathi campus, Global Tech Village and city municipal corporation (CMC) villages, which are now a part of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). Each has its own demands.
In areas like Laggere and Yeshwanthpur, citizens seem to prefer the candidate who gave proper roads, water dispensing units and civic infrastructure; voters in RR Nagar, Ullal, Kengeri, HMT and even Yeshwanthpur, where the urban elite reside, are looking at environmental concerns.
In the 2020 byelection, the constituency clocked 45.40 per cent voter turnout, and around 30 per cent of the votes BJP got was from the economically weaker sections, as the urban elite stayed away.
Munirathna beat Kusuma by 58,113 votes. In the 2018 Assembly elections, when voter turnout was 54.34 per cent, Munirathna, then a Congress candidate, had defeated Muniraju Gowda PM of the BJP by 25,492 votes.
This time, Munirathna also seems to be facing anti-incumbency. “The areas along Vrishbhavathi valley have seen repeated flooding, but little has been done to correct it. Trees were cut on a large scale to make way for better roads. Lakes have been concretised, there is no point in voting as repeated requests have not been addressed. Besides, the garbage mafia continues to be a concern even after the National Green Tribunal’s intervention,” said Bharathi (name changed), a resident.