In the run-up to the Karnataka assembly elections, Udupi is considered an important constituency after it grabbed the headlines in 2022 because of the hijab controversy.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Yashpal Anand Suvarna against Congress candidate Prasadraj Kanchan.
Suvarna was given the ticket to contest the election after the party shunted out incumbent and three-time MLA Raghupathi Bhat. He had been confident of getting the ticket again, but was denied it because people from the constituency demanded a candidate from the Other Backward Castes.
Bhat initially shed tears over not being fielded by the party for the fourth time and gave vent to his anger. Later, he fell in line and even campaigned for Suvarna.
Read: BJP relieved as MLA Bhat rallies behind official candidate for Udupi assembly seat
Udupi is among the five constituencies in the coastal districts where the BJP did not allow the sitting MLAs to contest.
Suvarna, an IT diploma holder, came into the limelight after saying that India would impose a blanket ban on wearing the hijab in public places. Last year, the 44-year-old leader was vice president of the Development Committee of the Udupi Government PU Girls’ College, which was at the heart of the hijab row.
He called the six college students who moved court demanding they be allowed to wear the hijab “terrorists.”
His rival, Kanchan, 50, is also a new entrant and an automobile entrepreneur. Both are from the fisher community.
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Suvarna’s family has links with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and his uncle Raghunath was an RSS worker. While in college, Suvarna was associated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and later, with the Bajrang Dal.
As per the Karnataka Election Information Centre, the constituency has 203,801 eligible voters, of which 105,015 are female and 98,786 are male.
From Udupi, the Congress has won eight times, the BJP four times, while the Congress (I), the Karnataka Congress Party and the Praja Socialist Party have won one time each.
Of the eight victories of the Congress in the constituency, members of one family (Madwaraj family) have won six times.
The ruling BJP opened its account in 1983, when its candidate VS Acharya won.
Political observers said the Congress faces many challenges in Udupi because its former leader Kinnimulky Krishnamurthy Acharya was denied a ticket. Acharya is contesting as an independent candidate and has a strong voter base in his favour.
Udupi is the second constituency in the coastal belt after Mangalore where the Congress faces dissidence after declaring its official candidates.
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