Bengaluru: The second phase of polling in the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies of North Karnataka on Tuesday will decide the fates of senior Congress leader, M Mallikarjuna Kharge, state BJP president, B.S.Yeddyurappa's son, B.Y. Raghavendra and Union ministers, Ananthkumar Hegde and Ramesh Jigajinagi among others.
With the issues in north Karnataka far different from those in the south, a high voltage campaign was conducted by all parties for the second phase.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a mega rally in Bagalkot where he once again took on the state government, lambasting Chief Minister H.D.Kumaraswamy over his remarks on the airstrike against a terror camp in Pakistan and leaders of the coalition partners like former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, JD(S) supremo, H.D.Deve Gowda, and Minister D.K. Shivakumar too held rallies, addressing the concerns of the people and promising to deliver more if elected.
In an obvious move to polarise the OBC, Dalits and minority votes, Mr Siddaramaiah even promised to become Chief Minister again if the opportunity arose and provide subsidised rice to BPL families. The Congress has been campaigning under the shadow of its unpopularity with the Veerashaiva community, which does not appear to have forgiven it for allegedly trying to divide the Lingayats by backing their demand for an independent religion status in the run- up to the last assembly poll.
Although former minister, Vinay Kulkarni has tried to side-step the issue while campaigning in Dharwad, it remains to be seen how the issue impacts the Congress this poll in the north of the state where the Lingayats are a dominant caste.
As the state braces for yet another poll day, elaborate arrangements have been made for smooth and peaceful conduct of the elections in the constituencies of Vijayapura, Bagalkot, Chikkodi, Belagavi, Hubballi-Dharwad, Uttara Kannada, Shivamogga, Haveri, Bellari, Davangere, Koppal, Raichuru, Bidar and Kalaburagi, where 237 candidates are in the fray. The highest number of 57 candidates are contesting in Belagavi, followed by 25 candidates in Davangere. Belagavi will have four EVMs owing to its large number of contestants and Bidar and Davangere with 22 and 25 candidates each will have two EVMs each. Of the 2.43 crore voter in the 14 constituencies, 1.22 core are male and 1.20 crore, female, according to the Chief Electoral officer of Karnataka. The BJP is believed to have requested the Chief Electoral Officer to declare Kalaburagi where Mr Kharge is contesting from, a critical seat.
The Congress campaigned under the shadow of its unpopularity with the Veerashaiva community, which seems to have not forgiven it for allegedly trying to divide the Lingayats by backing their demand for an independent religion status in the run- up to the last assembly poll. It remains to be seen how the issue impacts the Congress this poll in the north of the state where the Lingayats are a dominant caste.
