Bengaluru: Gandhinagar is one of the key assembly constituencies in Bengaluru city. It is represented in the Assembly by Dinesh Gundu Rao for the third term. Rao continued to bag this seat since 2004.
If the pulse of the voters is any indication, it seems that nothing can stop Rao, who is now the working president of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), in retaining Gandhinagar provided he allocates sufficient time to meet the voters in the constituency. Rao defeated JD(S) candidate Nagaraj V, who is currently in prison on charges of money laundering, by a margin of 28,268 votes in 2004 and BJP candidate P.C. Mohan by a margin of 6,966 votes in 2008 Assembly election and by a margin of 22,607 votes in the last Assembly elections held in 2013.
While Congress candidate (Rao) polled 54,968 votes, BJP candidate Mohan got only 32,361 votes and BSR Congress candidate Nagaraj V polled 10,875 votes. All other 11 candidates lost deposit.
As far as representation in the Bruhat Bengaluru MahanagaraPalike (BBMP) Council is concerned, it is Congress which has the advantage. Among the seven BBMP wards, five are represented by Congress while two are by BJP corporators. Wards such as Dattatreya Temple, Gandhinagar, Subash Nagar, Cottonpet and Binnypet are won by Congress candidates in the elections held in 2015 while Okalipuram and Chikpet are bagged by BJP candidates.
The advantage of Congress candidate is his popularity among the voters. Many people have no difficulty to tell who is their MLA. “We have no problem to meet him. The specialty of our MLA is that he was accessible when he was Minister for Food and Civil Supplies,’’ said Shanmugam K, a resident of Okalipuram.
The disadvantage of BJP candidate is his inability to encash voters’ sympathy. He has been contesting against Dinesh Gundu Rao since 2008. The margin of votes he gets defeated has increased from 6,966 votes in 2008 to 22,607 votes in 2013 elections. Rao, if Congress asks him to contest from Gandhinagar again, is set to win the election by a huge majority.
“The advantage of Rao is the strength of grassroot workers in this constituency. During the campaign, Rao’s wife also campaigns for him along with number of women activists of Congress. I have never seen him turning away anyone who wants to meet him,’’ says Murugesh M, a resident of Subashnagar.
With Nagaraj and his sons cooling their heels in Parappana Agrahara Central Prison, sailing through in 2018 election will not be an issue for the KPCC working president. “Nagaraj has claimed to be a potential candidate from Gandhinagar in the next election. If he gets released on bail, it will be tough to get the votes he got in the last election. There will be no sympathy for him,’’ opines Ramakrishna M, a resident of Srirampuram.
However, some residents, especially motorists, are not happy with slow progress of an underpass that connects Okalipuram and other areas with Malleswaram. “We are happy the government has taken up the project but we are not happy with progress of this underpass that has been pending for more than four years,’’ said Muralikrishna N, a resident.
All in all, Congress is set to retain Gandhinagar assembly seat irrespective of Modi wave or anti-incumbency factor.
