The Belgaum Assembly constituency had attracted the attention of the entire country during the 1985 elections with a record number of 301 candidates contesting from here.
The Belgaum seat was always won by Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) which was fighting for the transfer of Belgaum and other Marathi-speaking areas in the district to Maharashtra. The Kannadigas tried several tricks to defeat the MES, but in vain.
Like it happens in every election, local Kannadigas appealed to the national parties not to field their candidates and to support the lone ‘all-party candidate’ to keep the MES at bay.
Despite such effort, in the 1985 elections, the Congress and Janata Party fielded Shivajirao Kakatkar and R G Chindak as their candidates.
An appeal by Kannadigas to the Janata Party to withdraw its candidate fell on deaf ears.
The Kannadigas decided to support Congress nominee Shivajirao Kakatkar. They also decided to field as many Kannada candidates as possible to make it impossible for the Election Commission to conduct the election. In response, as many as 298 Kannada candidates filed their nominations from the Belgaum Assembly constituency in 1985.
The MES fielded Rajabhau Mane as its candidate, who had won the election held in 1983.
The Election Commission faced a lot of problems in printing ballot paper, allotting symbols and establishing polling booths. However, it was determined that the election will be conducted in Belgaum at any cost.
A total of 301 candidates, including those from the MES, Congress and Janata Party were in the fray.
Belgaum became the centre of attraction as newsmen from all over the country thronged the city to report the “rare election.”
The polling went off peacefully and MES candidate Rajabhau Mane, who polled 32, 401 votes, defeated his Congress rival Shivajirao Kakatkar (21,477 votes). Chindak secured 5,770 votes.
Interestingly, all the 298 Kannada candidates secured less than 4,000 votes and lost their deposit.
