The erstwhile Uttarahalli constituency, which was the largest in the State, was divided into Padmanabhanagar and Bangalore South constituencies, during delimitation in 2008.
Despite this division, Bangalore South remains the most populous constituency in the State with over 6.77 lakh voters.
While Uttarahalli was held by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s R. Ashok from 1998 till 2008, Mr. Ashok has been winning continuously from Padmanabhanagar since 2008, even as M. Krishnappa, also from the BJP, has been winning continuously from Bangalore South since 2008.
Both are seeking re-election from their respective constituencies, even as the Opposition parties hope to dislodge them.
The Congress is particularly upbeat in Bangalore South this time, given that the BJP’s own internal surveys showed a steep anti-incumbency for Mr. Krishnappa.
Mr. Ashok, who has been the Vokkaliga face of the BJP, has also been fielded against KPCC president D. K. Shivakumar in his pocket burough, Kanakapura, which sources said caught him off guard.
Though Mr. Shivakumar gave Mr. Ashok some tense moments, speculating that Mr. Shivakumar’s brother and Bengaluru Rural MP D.K. Suresh would contest for the Congress in Padmanabhanagar, they finally settled for a newbie V. Raghunatha Naidu.
Mr. Ashok is dividing his time between Padmanabhanagar and Kanakapura.
Though the constituencies have re-elected their representatives multiple times, often with big margins, several civic problems persist in these constituencies.
People of both constituencies complain about bad roads, traffic chaos, encroachment of lakes, lack of public health and education infrastructure, apart from drinking water issues in villages newly added to the city, part of Bangalore South constituency.
“Major lakes like Uttarahalli Lake, Dore Kere, Gowdayyana kere, Hosakerehalli Lake come under these two constituencies. Most of these lakes were encroached by powerful people and the MLAs have failed to get them cleared. This has led to floods in surrounding areas during light showers. Despite outrage over this, the civic body is callously building a road right through Hosakerehalli Lake,” said Kiran Kumar, a resident of Hosakerehalli.
Voters of Padmanabhanagar allege that development across the constituency is not uniform and there is disparity.
“In this constituency, areas like Padmanabanagar, Banashankari 1st and 2nd Stage, ISRO layout, Kumaraswamy Layout, and some parts of Jayanagar have good infrastructure. But areas like Kadirenahalli, Banashankari, Yarab Nagar, Hosakerehalli, and other parts are completely ignored. The incumbent MLA has not provided facilities like government hospitals, public libraries and skill training centres in these areas,” Poornima, a resident of Kadirenahalli said.
“Widening of the Konanakunte-Uttarahalli-Kengeri road has been pending for many years. Due to a lack of communication between the MLAs of Bangalore South and Yeshwanthpur, progress on the project is stalled. This is a high volume traffic corridor and the commuters suffer everyday. Whichever government comes to power, they should complete this project on a priority basis,” said Pavan Kumar, a resident of Uttarahalli.
While R.K. Ramesh from the Congress in Bangalore South constituency banks on anti-incumbency against Mr. Krishnappa and his work during the pandemic, Mr. Naidu in Padmanabhanagar is banking on anti-incumbency and caste combination to favour him.
The constituency has the highest number of Naidu voters and that would favour him, the Congress hopes. To counter this, Mr. Ashok got Daggubati Purandeshwari, Telugu matinee idol and Naidu stalwart N.T. Rama Rao’s daughter, to campaign for him.
