Bengaluru city is a key battleground for all the parties as there are 28 Assembly seats spread across three urban Lok Sabha constituencies, and has the ability to influence the neighbouring districts of Kolar, Tumkur, Chikkaballapur, Hassan, Mandya and Mysuru.
Bengaluru-North
With an aim to retain the Bangalore-North Parliamentary seat, the BJP has re-nominated Union Minister DV Sadananda Gowda. But determined to wrest this seat, the ruling Congress-JD(S) combine has fielded foreign educated two-time MLA and State Minister Krishna Byre Gowda.
This constituency has several institutions of higher learning, and many IT companies have their offices. The Congress is trying to empathise with the voters through tech-savvy Byre Gowda, who also represents Byatarayanapura Assembly segment which falls under this Lok Sabha constituency.
Byre Gowda, to overcome the Modi factor, has been aggressively attacking Sadananda Gowda over how “he has not taken interest in local issues and his involvement in the constituency”. These charges have put Sadananda Gowda on the defensive.
Bengaluru-Central
In Bangalore Central, it is a triangular contest between BJP’s sitting MP, PC Mohan vs Congress’ Rizwan Arshad, with the third being an independent candidate, film personality Prakash Raj. Mohan will have a face-off with Rizwan Arshad of the Congress for the second time in the constituency.
The Bangalore Central has a significant number of backward classes, Muslims, Christians, and is home to a large number of IT companies. It is believed Prakash Raj is likely to eat into secular votes of the Congress and may tilt the balance in favour of the BJP.
This constituency has challenges which vary from infrastructural bottlenecks to the traffic congestion and ensuring regular drinking water supply.
Bengaluru-South
This constituency was represented by senior BJP leader and Union Minister Late HN Ananthkumar. He had won six times which included against IT czar Nandan Nilekani.
This time around, the constituency is witnessing politcal readjustment. The BJP surprised all by fielding 28-year-old fire-brand speaker Tejasvi Surya, by ignoring the claims of Ananth Kumar’s wife Tejaswini . BJP President Amit Shah personally came to launch Tejasvi Surya’s campaign as few supporters of Ananth Kumar failed to support his campaign.
The Congress, on its part, is trying to counter Tejasvi Surya by fielding veteran warhorse and senior AICC member BK Hariprasad, who had contested this seat in 1990s.
Bengaluru-Rural
In Bangalore-Rural constituency, the fight between the Congress-JD(S) coalition candidate DK Suresh, brother of senior Congress leader and Karnataka Minister DK Shivakumar and BJP’s Ashwathnarayan Gowda. While the BJP is banking on Narendra Modi’s personality, the coalition has an upper hand in this Congress bastion.
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