Bommai to face first electoral test as EC announces bypolls to 2 Karnataka seats

It is likely to be a prestige issue for new Karnataka CM Bommai. BJP has been dependent on veteran leader Yediyurappa for winning polls until now and Bommai will be facing his first major electoral test since becoming the CM in July.

Two assembly constituencies in Karnataka, which have had no elected representatives for several months on account of the deaths of MLAs, will go to the polls on October 30, the Election Commission of India announced Tuesday.

The bypolls will be held for the Hanagal constituency in Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s home district of Haveri and in Sindgi constituency in the Bijapur region of the state.

The Hanagal constituency bypoll was necessitated by the death of veteran BJP leader C M Udasi — Bommai’s mentor — while the Sindgi bypoll was necessitated by the death of veteran JDS leader M C Managuli.

Although there has been speculations of former Karnataka CM B S Yediyurappa’s younger son B Y Vijayendra being fielded from the Lingayat-dominated Hanagal seat by BJP, Vijayendra has denied the speculation.

BJP is now looking at the possibility of fielding Udasi’s daughter-in-law — who is married to BJP’s Haveri Lok Sabha MP and Udasi’s son Shivakumar Udasi. Senior Udasi died in June this year at the age of 85.

In the Sindgi constituency, Managuli’s son Ashok Managuli switched over to the Congress and is hoping to contest the bypoll. Senior Managuli, a veteran JDS leader, died in January this year at the age of 85.

The result of the bypolls will be declared on November 2 and it is likely to be a prestige issue for the new Karnataka CM. BJP has been dependent on veteran leader Yediyurappa for winning polls until now and Bommai will be facing his first major electoral test since becoming the CM in July.

Karnataka Congress, which in recent weeks upped the ante against the BJP government at the Centre and in the state, is also likely to fight the bypoll seriously, despite the new MLA’s tenure curtailed to a little more than a year.

The next Karnataka assembly elections are scheduled for 2023.

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