Congress fields Samarth Mallikarjun as its candidate for the Davanagere South by-election.
Bengaluru: On Sunday, the Congress party announced Samarth Mallikarjun as its candidate for the upcoming by-election for the Davanagere South Assembly seat. This seat has been a party stronghold since the 2008 elections. The election is scheduled to take place on April 9. Samarth is the son of S.S. Mallikarjun, the Minister for Mines and Geology, and Prabha Mallikarjun, the Lok Sabha MP for Davanagere.
Previously, his grandfather, Shamanur Shivashankarappa, represented this seat; the seat fell vacant following his passing on December 14 last year. Shivashankarappa passed away at the age of 95 and was the country’s oldest serving legislator. Stepping into electoral politics, Samarth is trying his luck in his maiden election from the Davanagere South Assembly seat—a bastion of the Congress party.
This seat has been continuously represented by Shamanur Shivashankarappa. In 2008, the Congress party’s Shivashankarappa defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate, Yashwant Rao Jadhav, by a margin of 6,358 votes. The Congress candidate secured 41,675 votes, while the BJP candidate received 35,317 votes out of a total of 161,435 registered votes. This marked the only close contest for this seat.
Congress candidate Shivashankarappa retained his hold on the seat in the 2013 elections as well; he defeated his nearest rival, Karekatte Syed Saifulla of the Janata Dal (Secular) [JD(S)], by a margin of 40,158 votes. Shivashankarappa received 66,320 votes, while the JD(S) candidate secured 26,162 votes. In that election, the BJP finished in third place.
In the 2018 elections, the Congress party’s Shivashankarappa successfully retained the seat he had represented in 2008 and 2013. However, although Shivashankarappa emerged victorious, his margin of victory had narrowed. Shivashankarappa secured 71,369 votes, while the BJP’s Yashwant Rao Jadhav received 55,485 votes.
The BJP has fielded Ajay Kumar B.G. In 2023, the election was contested against Congress candidate Shivashankarappa, and once again, Shivashankarappa emerged victorious. The Congress candidate received 84,298 votes, while the BJP candidate secured 56,410 votes, resulting in a victory margin of 27,888 votes.
Regarding the decision to field Samarth, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar stated, “Discussions regarding fielding Samarth were held among various leaders, including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah; collectively, all the leaders reached a unanimous decision that a member of the Shamanur family itself should be fielded in the election.” Shivakumar handed over the ‘B-form’ to Samarth’s father, S.S. Mallikarjun, and Samarth is scheduled to file his nomination papers on Monday.
