Udupi-Chikmagalur constituency: Three parties plagued with problems

|Congress opportunity problem, JD(S) candidate problem, BJP MP support problem

|2.2 lakh voters in 1951, 14.94 lakh voters in 2019

Udupi: From the time of the independence, Udupi Lok Sabha constituency existed freely only as a part of Chikmagalur and Hassan constituency. In 1967, Chikmagalur constituency got its free existence.

Since the beginning, Congress has won at 12 times in Udupi and 6 times in Chikmagalur constituencies while BJP has won 4 times in Udupi and 3 times in Chikmagalur. Swatantra party and PSP have won once in Udupi and Chikmagalur respectively. Congress, which has won the most time from this constituency which also gave re-birth to Indira Gandhi, in now in a situation where it won’t contesting from here, and instead has given the constituency for JD(S) to contest. Even though prime minister Modi’s charisma remains, workers within BJP have started opposing any ideas of giving the ticket to the incumbent MP Shobha Karandlaje. Amidst this, JD(S) is on the lookout for a capable candidate. When checking the list of the victors, it can be observed that may have changed parties.

First election

During the first election in 1951, the undivided Dakshina Kannada district was still a part of Madras state. Then Srinivas Mallya of Congress won in South Canara (north) with 98,122 votes. K B Jenaraj Hegde of KMPP party and B J Bhandary of the socialist party secured 86,268 and 36,371 votes respectively.

In 1957, undivided DK district became the part of the state of Mysore. The Udupi Lok Sabha constituency included Udupi, Brahmavar, Kaup, Kundapur, Byndoor, Surathkal, Bantwal and Moodbidri.

In 2009, when the constituency was re-divided, it was named Udupi-Chikmagalur constituency. BJP’s Sadananda Gowda, Congress’s K Jayaprakash Hegde and BJP’s Shobha Karandlaje won from this constituency in 2009, 2012 and 2014 respectively.

Chikmagalur constituency was also with Hassan. The H Siddnanjappa from Congress got 1,16,561 votes and S Shivappa of SP gained 55,289 votes. Until 1967, it was attached to Hassan. In 1967, Chikmagalur constituency was created which included Singeri, Mudgere, Chikmagalur, Birur, Kadur, Tarikere and DK district’s Karkala and Belthangady. The victors from this constituency include M Hucche Gowda of PSP party (1967), D B Chandre Gowda of congress (1971,1977), Indira Gandhi in 1978 by-poll, Putte Gowda of Congress (1980), Tara Devi of Congress (1984), B L Shankar of Janata Dal (1996) and D C Srikantappa of BJP (1998, 1999 and 2004). Later it became the Udupi-Chikmagalur constituency.