Mangaluru South turns battleground with 11 contestants

Mangaluru: Mangaluru South, has been watched closely by political analysts and politicians alike, is proving to be an active battleground with 11 contenders who are trying to gain entry into the Vidhana Soudha.

Traditional methods like road shows, door to door campaigns, public meetings and announcements through vehicles are common in a campaign. These contenders are also making use of new generation technology like Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram to reach their campaign to the younger more “tech savvy” demographic and boost their chances by sharing videos, posters and messages which turns out to be pretty efficient and light on the wallets.

The constituency was Congress party’s fort till late 1983. But after for the last six elections they had to fight with BJP for the seat. BJP’s senior leader N Yogish Bhat represented the constituency for 4 straight terms between 1994 and 2008. But things changed when during the 2013 elections Congress fielded a political novice and former IAS officer, J R Lobo to contest against Bhat, which helped Congress get back on track after almost 19 years.

This time however Congress party has given the ticket to incumbent MLA J R Lobo and BJP to D Vedavyas Kamath . CPI(M) candidate Sunil Kumar Bajal and Ex-cop Madan Patel’s entry, however has changed the game. In another interesting turn of events, Srikar Prabhu, a former BJP worker is contesting independent. Apart from them, there are 7 more contenders who are either independent or from regional parties, trying to squeeze in some votes.

The constituency which has 38 wards under the Mangalore City Corporation, has many developmental projects that have been undertaken in the last five years, and is one among the to-be-smart-cities of India.