Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023: Will CM Basavaraj Bommai continue its winning streak from Shiggaon?

Karnataka Assembly Elections: Among polls in 224 constituencies of Karnataka, the contest in Shiggaon will be the most watched as it is a stronghold of incumbent Basavaraj Bommai — the 17th chief minister of the state. 

Shiggaon constituency is part of the Haveri district and a segment of the Dharwad Lok Sabha seat. Many key politicians such as S. Nijalingappa, and Manjunath Kunnur have been elected from the Shiggaon Assembly seat earlier.  

Rudragouda Patil of the Indian National Congress was the first MLA to win this constituency and it saw a change of faces every 5-10 years until Basavaraj Bommai clinched it in the 2008 Assembly elections and he has been incumbent till today.  

Shiggaon constituency: BJP vs Congress vs JD(S) 

BJP’s Basavaraj Bommai won the Shiggaon seat defeating rival Congress' Sayed Azeempeer Khadri by a margin of 9,503 votes in the 2018 Karnataka Assembly Election. The Congress candidate polled 63,504 votes in the last state polls.  

Shiggaon constituency: Key Candidates 

In the 2023 assembly election, Shiggaon is likely to see a stiff battle between BJP’s strongman Bommai who is pitted against Congress candidate Pathan Yasirahmedkhan and JD(S) Shashidhar Yeligar. BJP has been unbeatable in the Shiggaon seat since 2008. 

Shiggaon constituency: Other parties and individual candidate 

The following is the list of candidates who will contest from the Shiggaon constituency, according to the Election Commission website: 

- Khajamohiddin Gudageri from Indian Movement Party 

- Shambulinga Hukkeri From Karnataka Rashtra Samithi 

- Mahaboobsab Dadusab Kalebag from Aam Aadmi Party 

- Dr. UP Shivananda - Independent  

- Manjakka Rukkavva Pujar from Independent 

- Jagadish Yallappa Bankapur - Independent  

- Virupakshagouda Naganagouda Fakkiragoudra - Independent  

Karnataka Election 2023: Background and full schedule  

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

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

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