More than half of the constituencies in Bengaluru have repeated MLAs

Bengaluru: Most of the constituencies in the Bangalore city district have turned into strongholds of the MLAs of their respective constituencies. Even though there were several elections held, the MLAs have not changed. Sometimes the same MLAs jump from one party to another party and have managed to win.

Out of the total 28 constituencies in Bangalore, 16 constituencies have sitting MLAs as permanent representatives. After the restructuring of constituencies in 2008, this practice is being seen in Bangalore. Through this, a total of 56% constituencies in Bangalore have been converted into 'reserved' constituencies. Anti-incumbency wave, political upheaval, rapid revolution, change etc. are not applicable in these areas.

BJP MLAs have been elected in the last three general elections in Yelahanka, Malleswaram, Rajaji Nagar, CV Raman Nagar, Basavangudi, Padmanabha Nagar, Mahadevpura, Bommanahalli and Bangalore South constituencies. All these 9 constituencies remain BJP strongholds in this election as well.

Byatarayanapura, Sarvajna Nagar, Shanti Nagar, Shivaji Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, Vijaya Nagar and BTM layout constituencies are the strongholds of Congress. If we look at the last three elections, Congress candidates have won in all these constituencies and become MLAs.

If we look at the Shivaji Nagar constituency, Roshan Baig contested in this constituency from 2008 to the last election and won three times. In 2019, he contested from BJP but lost against Rizwan Arshad of Congress. Now Rizwan Arshad is on the verge of winning again.

Looking at the Chamarajpet constituency, Zameer Ahmed Khan, who had won twice as a JDS candidate, contested as a Congress candidate in the last election and was an MLA. This time too, the victory is mine, claims the MLA Zameer.

Caste plays a very important role here. Candidates will have their own vote bank in the constituency. The caste of the candidates is also important here. Out of the total 28 constituencies in Bangalore, MLAs from 13 constituencies are from Vokkaliga community. This point is confirmed if we look at the caste calculation of Bangalore city.

Out of the 16 MLAs who have won 3 times in a row, half of the MLAs are Vokkaligas. If we look at Malleswaram constituency as an example, this constituency was dominated by Brahmins similar to Basavanagudi. However, due to globalization-liberalization policy, people from rural areas migrated to urban areas and as a result, people from neighboring districts of Bangalore migrated to the capital and the caste equation itself changed.

In Bengaluru, CV Raman Nagar, Mahadevpura, Pulakeshi Nagar and Anekal constituencies are SC reserved constituencies. Another side Shivaji Nagar, Shanti Nagar and Chamarajpet constituencies are Muslim dominated constituencies. There are Christian legislators in Sarvajna Nagar. Rajaji Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, Basavanagudi and Chickpet constituencies have Brahmin MLAs.

There are allegations that the same faces are winning again and again due to 'adjustment politics'. It is also true that there is a complementary vote bank for the respective parties in some constituencies. Because, it is not an easy task to change the dominance of the respective parties in Basavanagudi, Rajajinagar, Pulakeshi Nagar and Shivaji Nagar.

However, the high command of the national parties has come up with innovative strategies to bring about change in these areas. Putting pressure on state units to put an end to compromise politics. Especially in Sarvajna Nagar and Pulikeshi Nagar, this time the voters are eager to favor their party. Will the voter win? Have to wait and see.