By fielding Siddaramaiah from Kolar, Congress eyes major gains in Karnataka elections

Congress is hoping to wrest the majority of the 11 assembly seats in Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts by fielding senior leader Siddaramaiah from Kolar. The party currently has eight seats and wants to add more in the assembly polls due in about four months.

The former CM has announced that he is keen to contest from Kolar, in view of its proximity to Bengaluru and the favourable caste-wise composition of voters in the constituency.

The two neighbouring districts of Kolar and Chikkaballapur did not have any significant presence of the BJP until the 2018 assembly polls. But in the bypolls that followed the next year, K Sudhakar, a minister in the current government, won on a BJP ticket in Chikkaballapur, raising hopes in the party. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election too, the BJP won the Kolar (SC) seat.


Siddaramaiah, 75, has moved away from his native Mysuru after he, as CM, lost in Chamundeshwari in the 2018 election. In Badami (Bagalkot district) in north Karnataka, too, he won by a thin margin against BJP's formidable scheduled tribe leader B Sriramulu.

Siddaramaiah's followers believe Kolar is a safe bet for him. The former CM has promised Kolar voters that he will visit them every week, if elected, and his plans for the district include a super speciality hospital.

The Congress and JD(S) have a strong presence in both Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts. In Kolar assembly constituency, Muslim, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe voters make up more than half the voters, sections of whom traditionally backed the Congress. The seat was won by the JD(S) in the 2018 assembly polls, but its MLA has switched loyalties to the Congress.