Karnataka goes to the polls on May 10 and results for the 224 Assembly seats will be announced on May 13. The Ballari constituency is expected to see a triangular fight.
The opposition Congress has fielded Bharath Reddy from the constituency, while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is represented by G Somashekhar.
The newly-formed Kalyana Rajya Pragati Paksha (KRPP), founded by former minister and mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy, who recently broke away from the BJP, has given ticket to Aruna Lakshmi, wife of Janardhan Reddy.
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Bharath Reddy’s father Nara Suryanarayans is a former Janata Dal -Secular (JDS) MLA who joined the Congress in 2014, while Somashekhar is known as a firebrand Hindutva leader.
In 2020, the MLA had stoked controversy after threatening anti-CAA protestors, saying, “We are 80 percent, you are only 15 percent.”
Ballari constituency (General) has traditionally been a Congress bastion. Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi had contested the 1999 Lok Sabha elections from here and registered a victory against the nearest rival Sushma Swaraj.
However, the return of BS Yediyurappa and B Sriramulu to BJP altered the dynamics of the 2018 assembly elections, resulting in the BJP gaining control of Ballari.
Somashekhar Reddy won the election against his Congress opponent Anil Lad with a margin of 16,155 votes. However, political analysts now speculate that the Congress may have the upper hand in the 2023 elections, as Janardhana Reddy has formed his own political party.
The traditional vote bank of the BJP and that of the Reddy brothers could be divided among the BJP and the KRPP, giving an advantage to Congress candidate Bharath Reddy.
As per Karnataka Election Information Centre, Ballari has 2,14,940 eligible voters, of which 1,05,945 are male and 1,08,995 are female.
Seeking support on the ground, senior Congress leader and disqualified MP Rahul Gandhi, has promised to establish a jeans park in Ballari and make the city the jeans capital of India.
Read more: Congress banking on 5 'guarantees' for victory in Karnataka polls
Meanwhile, the ruling BJP has promised to set up steel and power plants in the constituency that will help and generate employment for the local populace.
The Congress, which has made corruption a poll plank, alleging that ministers in Karnataka demand 40 percent commission on public works from contractors, is aiming to win at least 150 seats in the 224-member Karnataka Assembly.
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