Only four candidates have represented Bidar Lok Sabha constituency though elections have been held for 13 times since 1962, according to available records.
The candidates who represented Bidar Lok Sabha constituency since 1962 till 2009 were Ramachandra Veerappa, Shankar Dev, Narasing Rao Suryawanshi and Dharam Singh.
When the first elections to the Lok Sabha were held in 1952, Bidar was part of the Hyderabad state. In the second elections held in 1957, Bidar was part of the dual-member constituency of Gulbarga.
First elections to the independent Bidar (SC) Reserve constituency were held in 1962.
Ramachandra Veerappa won the Lok Sabha elections from Bidar (SC) reserve constituency in 1962 and in 1967 as INC candidate and in 1991, 1996, 1999 and 2004 as BJP candidate.
The winning margin of Ramachandra Veerappa was over 1 lakh votes in the elections held in 1991, 1996 and 1999.
It was over 50,000 in 1962 and 1967 elections. Ramachandra Veerappa won with the lowest margin of 23,539 votes in 2004 general elections. He died the same year.
Shankar Dev, who was a member of Lok Sabha from dual-member constituency of Gulbarga in 1957, represented Bidar (SC) reserve constituency in 1971 from National Congress (Jagjivan Ram) and in 1977 from Indian National Congress. The victory margin of Shankar Dev in 1971 was 1.52 lakh and it fell to 50,230 in 1977.
Narasing Rao Suryawanshi represented the constituency in 1980, 1984 and 1989 from INC. Winning margin of Narasing Rao was 1.05 lakh in 1980 elections, 59,615 in 1984, 38,947 in 1989 and 13,470 in the 2004 byelection. Suryawanshi contested as Congress candidate in 2004 general elections but was defeated by Ramachandra Veerappa by a margin of 23,539 votes.
Bidar became a general constituency after delimitation in 2009 and former chief minister Dharam Singh contested as INC candidate and defeated BJP’s Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli by a margin of 39,019 votes.
INC candidates won eight times from Bidar while Ramachandra Veerappa represented the constituency as BJP candidate four times and as National Congress (Jagjivan Ram) candidate once.
Voter population of Bidar Lok Sabha constituency in 1962 was 4,16,621 and reached 14,70,507 in 2009. The constituency comprises of Bidar, Bidar (South), Bhalki, Basavakalyan, Aurad and Humnabad Assembly constituencies of Bidar district and Aland and Chincholi constituencies of Gulbarga district.