Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023: Chikkaballapur set to see close battle between K Sudhakar and Pradeep Eshwar

Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023: Former Congress leader, and now a BJP mainstay - Dr K Sudhakar will be contesting 2023 Karnataka Assembly Polls to win Chikkaballapur for a fourth time. His first two stints in 2013 and 2018 came with the Congress, while he won the 2019 bypoll on a BJP ticket. 

In 2019, he won the seat by defeating M. Anjanappa of the Congress by a margin of over 30,000 votes. And now the ruling BJP is going all out to retain power in the state, while the principal opposition Congress is vying to unseat it, with Janata Dal (Secular) - JD(S) - fighting to turn it into a three-pronged contest.

Chikkaballapur seat comes under the Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka State.

Chikkaballapur constituency: Congress vs BJP vs JD(S)

This year, the ruling party - BJP - has fielded Sudhakar again from Chikkaballapur. He is currently serving as the Minister of Medical Education and Health in the state. He has been pitted against Congress candidate Pradeep Eshwar and JD(S) candidate KP Bachegowd. Sudhakar has won the seat the seat from 2013 onwards. In 2013 and 2018, he won it on a Congress ticket, and in the 2019 bypolls he contested on a BJP ticket and won.

Chikkaballapur Constituency: Other parties and independent candidate

According to the Election Commission website, the following is the list of candidates that will contest from the Chikkaballapur constituency  
Indian National Congress - Pradeep Eshwar
Bharatiya Janata Party - DR. K. Sudhakar
Janata Dal (Secular) - K.P. Bache Gowda
Aam Aadmi Party - DR. M.M. Bhasha Nandi
Proutist Bloc, India - B.K. Prasad
Karnataka Rashtra Samithi - Anjinappa.P 
Bahujan Samaj Party - Pilla Anjinappa
Independent - T. Venkata Sivudu
Independent - Sudhakar.N
Independent - Syed Amanulla
Independent - Chandrashekar.H.C
Independent - Altaf Ahmed

Also Read: Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023: Will BJP's Ramesh Jarkiholi retain Gokak Constituency for the seventh time?

Karnataka Election 2023: Background

On May 24, 2023, the Karnataka Legislative Assembly's tenure will come to an end. The most recent Assembly elections were held in May 2018. Following the election, the single-largest party BJP established the state government under BS Yediyurappa, but it barely lasted a week since it couldn't withstand the Assembly's floor test.

This was followed by the coalition of the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Indian National Congress, with H. D. Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister, which lasted 14 months before Yediyurappa and BJP returned to power in the state.

Karnataka Election 2023: Schedule

Single-phase Karnataka Assembly Election has been scheduled on May 10, 2023 (Wednesday).
The vote counting will be done on May 13, 2023 (Saturday).
In the 224 seat Assembly, the majority mark is 113.

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