Know Your Constituency: Yelahanka, an uphill task for Congress, advantage for BJP

Yelahanka was a reserved constituency for Scheduled Castes until the 2004 Assembly elections, it became a general constituency after delimitation.

It is one of the smallest Assembly constituencies in Bengaluru with 3.73 lakh voters. It’s also a bustling town, due to its proximity to the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA). The suburb likely to witness a direct contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.

Both parties have consistently polled 30% to 40% of votes while the JD (S) has been in a distant third place, except in the 2013 when Congress rebel B. Chandrappa contested on a JD(S) ticket and lost. He has since returned to the Congress.


Though the Congress has the record of winning six of the last ten assembly elections from here, Yelahanka was won by the BJP in the last two Assembly elections (since delimitation).

BJP’s SR Vishwanath won by a margin of 16,000 votes against Congress candidate B Chandrappa in 2008. Even when the tide was against BJP in the 2013 elections, Vishwanath won by 18,000 votes.

While BJP is sure to field him this time as well, the Congress has a problem of plenty, with at least 18 aspirants, some of who have already started door-to-door campaigns. While it will be an uphill task for the Congress, the BJP has the added advantage of having three sitting city corporators (out of four) from the party. The Kempegowda, Atturu and Yelahanka Satellite Town Wards are represented by BJP corporators.The Congress is likely to field a candidate from the Vokkaliga community due as the caste-group has a majority in the constituency. M Rajkumar, President of the Bengaluru North District Congress Committee said “We have 100% hope. The BJP MLA is not accessible to people and does not have a good image,” he said.