Karnataka Polls: CM Bommai won’t have it easy at Shiggaon, a traditional BJP stronghold

The 63-year-old MLA is the son of former Karnataka CM and Janata Party veteran, the late SR Bommai.

Seeking to oust the BJP from the state, Congress has fielded Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan against Bommai. Bommai had defeated Congress candidate Sayed Azeempeer Khadri in the 2018 elections, securing 83,868 votes against 74,603 of Khadri. The incumbent CM's victory margin was 5.5 percent.

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The other candidate from Shiggaon is Sashidhar Channabasappa Yaligar of Janata Dal (Secular). The party, which is popular among the Vokkaliga community, has only been securing 1,000 to 3,000 votes in the constituency for the last three elections.

High-profile constituency

Shiggaon is a high-stakes constituency for both the BJP and the Congress. An agricultural area, the major issues faced by voters there include water scarcity, lack of infrastructure, and unemployment.

Incidentally, with the Bommais, Shiggaon has produced the state’s second father-son pair of CMs, after HD Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy. Shiggaon is SR Bommai’s birthplace.

Per available data, there are approximately 80,000 Veershaiva-Lingayat voters in Shiggaon-Savanur constituency. Of these, only 16,000 belong to Bommai's sub-sect. Apart from the Veerashaiva-Lingayat and around 60,000 Muslim voters , the rest of the electorate comprises 40,000 Dalits and 24,000 members of the Kuruba community.

The constituency has 1,16,588 male voters, 1,09,480 female voters, and 11 sexual minorities. The constituency, which comes under Belagavi division, has the largest vote share in the 30-39 age group, and the least in the 18-19 age group.

Electoral Population Ratio in Shiggaon. (Source: Karnataka Election Information System)

Karnataka age cohort of electors. (Source: Karnataka elections information system)

With a strong hold over the constituency, Bommai is eyeing his fourth win from here. However, with Pathan, this time the Congress is also looking to make a dent in the ruling party's bastion.

Pathan is a local Congress leader, who is the President of Anjuman-e-Islam, Hubballi-Dharwad.

Bommai's image has taken a beating since he became the CM in 2021, following the ignominious exit of senior BJP leader BS Yediyurappa. Bommai’s inability to check mismanagement and corruption in the government — something he himself has been accused of — put a blot on his career.

A tough win for BJP

Karnataka has had a volatile polling history — in the last 38 years, no ruling party has been able to retain power for two consecutive terms, nor has any chief minister managed to hold on to his post for two consecutive terms.

The BJP, which formed a government with BS Yediyurappa as Chief Minister in July 2019 by defeating the Janata Dal (S)-Congress coalition government through a series of defections, faced allegations of misgovernance, groupism, and corruption. Within two years of his term, the BJP replaced Yediyurappa with Bommai in July 2021 to control the situation. But it did not help.

Keeping all factors in mind, both BJP and Congress have put forward their best candidates in Shiggaon, making it an interesting battle between two of India's largest political parties. The role of regional parties such as the Janata Dal (S) and the Bahujan Samaj Party also cannot be ignored, and they could play a decisive role in the upcoming elections.

(Data compiled by indiavotes.com and Karnataka Elections Information System)