BENGALURU: Congress party on Sunday announced Samarth Mallikarjun as its nominee to fight the ensuing Davangere South Assembly seat by-poll which has been a stronghold of the party since 2008 elections. The election will be held on April 9. He is the son of the Minister of Mines and Geology S.S. Mallikarjun and Davangere Lok Sabha member Prabha Mallikarjun.
Earlier his grandfather Shamanur Shivashankarappa represented the seat and fell vacant after his death on December 14 previous year. Shivashankarappa died at the age of 95 and was the oldest legislator of the country. Taking a plunge into electoral politics, Samarth is trying his luck in his maiden contest at Congress party’s bastion-Davanagere South Assembly seat.
The seat has been successively represented by Shamanur Shivashankarappa. In 2008, Shivashankarappa of Congress party won against Bharatiya Janata Party nominee Yashavantha Rao Jadhav by a margin of 6,358 votes. Congress nominee polled 41, 675 votes while BJP candidate secured 35, 317 votes out of registered 1, 61, 435 votes. It was the only close fight in the seat.
Shivashankarappa, a Congress nominee, retained the seat in the 2013 election defeating his nearest rival Karekatte Syed Saifulla of Janata Dal Secular (JDS) by a margin of 40, 158 votes. Shivashankarappa polled 66, 320 votes and the JDS nominee got 26, 162 votes. BJP then finished third in the fray.
In the 2018 election, Shivashankarappa of Congress party was successful in retaining the seat he presented in 2008 and 2013. However, Shivashankarappa won but his victory margin came down. Shivashankarappa secured 71, 369 votes and BJP’s Yashavantha Rao Jadhav got 55, 485 votes.
BJP fielded Ajay Kumar B.G. against Congress nominee Shivashankarappa in 2023 and again Shivashankarappa won it. Congress nominee got 84, 298 votes while BJP nominee secured 56, 410 votes and the margin of victory was 27, 888 votes.
On fielding Samarth, president of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said “Fielding Samarth was discussed by leaders including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and leaders arrived at a unanimous decision to field a member of the Shamanur family.” Shivakumar handed over the B-form to S.S. Mallikarjun, father of Samarth and Samarth will be filing his papers on Monday.
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