Karnataka Assembly Elections: Kanakapura to see battle between seven-time-MLA D K Shivakumar against R Ashoka

Karnataka Assembly Elections: Kanakapura is one of the 224 constituencies of Karnataka. It is part of the Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha constituency, which includes eight assembly seats. Notably, Ramakrishna Hegde had contested a bypoll from this seat when he first became Chief Minister in 1983. Kanakapura is one of the key constituencies in this year's Karnataka Assembly election, we tell you why —

Kanakapura constituency: Congress vs BJP vs JD(S)

The Congress has a strong hold in Kanakapura and D K Shivakumar — nick-named 'Kanakapura Rock' — is a seven-time MLA from the constituency. In 2018 Karnataka Assembly Election, he won the seat defeating Janata Dal (Secular) - JD(S) candidate - by a huge margin of 79,909 votes.  

However, with the BJP making strong in-roads into Congress' bastion, the battle between D K Shivakumar, R Ashoka from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and B.R Ramachandra from JD(S) will be an interesting one to watch. 

Kanakapura constituency: Key Candidates

In this year’s election, Kanakapura will witness a thrilling war between Congress’ D K Shivakumar and R Ashoka who will represent the BJP. D K Shivakumar has been unbeatable in the Kanakapura constituency and this election is likely to be a prestige battle for him. 

The contest will be the one to watch out as the Vokkaliga community is well-represented in the constituency and both R Ashoka and Shivakumar belong to the community. However, JD(S) also enjoys strong support from the community, and their candidate - B Nagaraju - will hope to spring a surprise on his competitors. 

Kanakapura constituency: Other parties and independent candidate

According to the Election Commission website, the following is the list of candidates that will contest from Kanakapura constituency 

-Nagaraju S J- Independent

- Sunil Kumar- Independent 

- Krishna N M- BSP

- Shridhara K R- Independent 

-KRS Prashanth Hosadurga- Karnataka Rashtra Samithi

-Shivarenuka- Independent

-Manmohan Raj K N- Uttama Prajaakeeya Party

- E Puttaraju - Aam Aadmi Party

- Mallikarjunaiah- Independent

- Nallahalli Srinivas- Independent

- Kempegowda- Navabharath Sena

- Shadakshari A N- Independent

Karnataka Election 2023: Background and full schedule 

The Karnataka Legislative Assembly's term is set to expire on May 24, 2023. The previous assembly elections took place in May of 2018. Following the election, the state government 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. 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 state.

The Election Commission has scheduled the date of polling as May 10, 2023 (Wednesday). The vote counting will be done on May 13, 2023 (Saturday).

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