Elections in Chamundeshwari Assembly segment which has witnessed high decibel battles and acerbic campaigning notably in the 2006 by-polls and 2018 elections, is relatively quiet with all focus of attention on the adjoining Varuna.
Chamundeshwari is not in the eye of the media glare anymore with the Congress leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah shifting his constituency to Varuna after receiving a drubbing in the 2018 elections.
G.T. Deve Gowda of the Janata Dal (Secular) is pitted against Mavinahalli Siddegowda of the Congress and V. Kavish Gowda of the BJP, in a constituency where all political parties field a Vokkaliga candidate given the community’s numerical strength. There are 3,29,141 voters in the constituency of whom 1,64,151 are male and 1,64,995 are females with 35 transgenders.
The constituency is where Mr. Siddaramiah began his innings as an MLA, having been elected first in 1983 and repeating his electoral triumph on four other occasions besides losing thrice.
Mr. Deve Gowda has been on the campaign trail even before the notification of elections and is banking on the development works taken up during his period, especially extension of multi-village drinking water project in water-stressed areas of the constituency.
As far as Siddegowda and Kavish Gowda are concerned, this is their maiden venture into the Assembly electoral battle while Deve Gowda is a veteran in electoral politics having been a former minister as well.
As the stakes are low in the perception of the political party leaders, the candidates are left to fend for themselves and here Deve Gowda has secured a considerable lead in terms of coverage and outreach compared to his rivals. Though there are 14 candidates in all, the contest is reckoned to be between the Congress and the JD (S) with the BJP in the distant third.
One’s own battle
Unlike the previous elections where the high stake electoral battles had led to high decibel and bitter campaigning with a slew of leaders descending on Chamundeshwari, it is quiet this time around. None of the Central or State political leaders have campaigned in the constituency so much so that even Pratap Simha, Mysuru MP, has not stepped into the Assembly segment though it falls under his Parliamentary constituency. In fact, Kavish Gowda – son of former MLA Vasu of the Congress — has reconciled himself to the situation as the top BJP leaders have only expressed their ‘’moral support’’ to him.
In the runup to the polls, Chamundeshwari was expected to make lot of noise as Mr.S iddaramaiah, smarting from his 2018 defeat, had weaned away top JD (S) leaders to the Congress camp. In fact, Siddegowda is former close aide of Deve Gowda and shifted camp to further his political prospects. But as the elections have panned out, it has turned out to be the proverbial storm before calm in Chamundeshwari.
