Koppal Bye Election for Karnataka State Assembly
Read this article about the Koppal Assembly Constituency Bye election to be held on the 26th of September and the result to be announced on the 29th. The result will not affect the ruling Government in terms of majority. But the outcome will affect all the 3 major parties in the State namely the Congress, the BJP and the JD(S). Koppal being in the habit of springing surprised in the elections, the only prediction can be of a surprise.
Koppal Election campaign ends.
The campaigning for the election came to an end yesterday. The people of Koppal – 95000 women and 90000 men are going to elect their representative on the 26th Monday. Koppal is the head quarter town of Koppal district. The election was necessitated by the changing over of the party of the MLA Karadi Sanganna from JD(S) to BJP during this March. Or is it a horse trading of MLAs under the banner of operation Kamala.
Sanganna's main rivals are Basavarj Hitnal of Congress and Pradeep Patil of JD (S). Hitnal is an ex legislator and Patil is a fresher. The election results will be out on the 29th. The outcome of the result will not directly affect the D V S Gowda's Government as it has the support of 118 party MLAs and one independent in the house of 225 members. Effects of Koppal outcome on Parties
However all the three major parties in the state will have an effect in the outcome of the election. For the congress it will be a morale booster if its candidate wins. Since 2004 the party in the state was having one debacle after another. If the seat is won the congress can expect to reverse its performances so far and regain its lost position.
For the JD (S) of Deve Gowda, Ex P M, it is a very bad time. The party could not give an effective position in the fight against the BJP whom it betrayed during its coalition. Now the most important leader of the party, HDK is in fighting the corruption charges along with his wife Anitha. His brother who retired from a Government job is also involved in the fight against charges of possessing disproportionate assets. The victory of Koppal seat will be like a shot in the arm of the party.
But the outcome will have maximum effect on the BJP in its internal fights. In the beginning the BSY loyalists wanted to project him as the undisputed leader of the party though he was forced out of C M's post on graft charges. He himself wanted to project self as the star campaigner in Koppal and spent several days even seeking exemptions from appearing in the court in the graft case against him. The present C M Gowda campaigned for a few days. His campaigning cannot be taken as for or against BSY as he was a loyalist of him till now. However on 23rd Friday a show of unity was visible with all factions and leaders of the state unit namely the C M, BSY, state party chief Eswarappa and the Gen sec and MP Ananth Kumar jointly campaigning for the seat. Koppal always an Unpredictable Constituency
The constituency was unpredictable since a long time and used to spring surprises in all results since some time. This time also it may be so.
However one factor predominant is the caste factor. The largest segment of the electorates belongs to the Lingayats also known as Veerashaivas communities comprising about 30 %. Bu the community is having several sub sects and BJP and JD-S have fielded candidates from this community. The next major caste in the place is Kuraba about 13% and the congress candidate is from this community. Then there are others of varying percentages with Muslims and Madigas having 8% each. Both the BJP and JD have serious charges of graft against the tall leaders of the parties. Congress is still in a slumber. All along the candidate of the same party has not come successful for 2nd time. But BJP's Sanganna has won 3 times from the constituency but on different party tickets. The BJP had used many of its ministers and prominent leaders to campaign and the JD-s State President H D K has also left no stone unturned in his efforts to boost the chances of his party candidate. JD –s is banking on the clean image and popularity of its candidate to romp home. The Congress was mostly concentrating on the charges against the BJP leaders. It is banking on the Kuraba and Muslim votes. But the party at the center is having serious problems. Koppal may keep its past tradition of springing surprise in the outcome. Let us watch.
