Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023: BY Vijayendra takes Shikaripura baton from BJP stalwart BS Yediyurappa

Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023: Shikaripura is a prominent seat among 224 constituencies of Karnataka. The Assembly constituency was named after the town of Shikaripur and it is one of the 8 constituencies which form the Shimoga Lok Sabha Constituency. 

Several prominent politicians have been elected Shikaripura Assembly seat in the past. Veerappa of the Congress was the first MLA to win this constituency in 1962. BJP heavyweight BS Yediyurappa held the seat from 1983 to 199, then again from 2004 to 2014, and is the present incumbent from this seat. The seat was held by his son BY Raghavendra from 2014 to 2018. 

Shikaripura constituency: BJP vs Congress vs JD(S)  

BSY had won the seat defeating rival Congress candidate Goni Malatesha by a margin of 35,397 votes in the 2018 Karnataka Assembly Election. While Malatesha polled 51,586 votes, JD(S)' HT Balegar emerged as the second runner-up with 13,191 votes.  

Shikaripura constituency: Key Candidates 

In this year’s election, Shikaripura will witness an epic battle between BJP stalwart Yediyurappa's son BY Vijayendra and Congress candidate Goni Malatesha, who had fought against the former CM Yediyurappa in 2018. BJP has been unbeatable in Shikaripura since 2004 and this election will be a prestige battle for them.  

Shikaripura constituency: Other parties and individual candidate 

According to the Election Commission website, the following is the list of candidates who will contest from the Shikaripura constituency: 

- Yallappa Bazarappa from the Republican Party of India (Athawale) 

- Ravinaik D From Karnataka Rashtra Samithi 

- Chandrakanth S Revanakar from Aam Aadmi Party 

-Imtiyaz A Attar - Independent  

- S. P. Nagarajagowda - Independent  

- Ganesha R - Independent  

- Anil M.R - Independent  

- Mohammed Sadiq - Independent 

Karnataka Election 2023: Background and full schedule  

The Karnataka Legislative Assembly's term will expire on May 24, 2023. The state elections earlier were held in May 2018.  

The state government in 2018 was first formed by the single-largest party — BJP — under BS Yediyurappa - which couldn't face the floor test in Assembly and lasted only a week.  

This followed a coalition government between Janata Dal (Secular) and the Congress, with HD Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister, which lasted 14 months before Yediyurappa and BJP returned to power in the southern state. 

The Assembly polls for Karnataka are scheduled to be held on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, and the counting of the votes will take place on May 13, Saturday.