Byelection: Will another Bommai make it again in Shiggaon?

Caste dynamics, political strategies, and electoral battles in Shiggaon Assembly constituency of Karnataka play a crucial role in elections.

Calculations around castes and sub-castes tend to play a big role in the electoral arena in India, barring some exceptions. One such could be the Shiggaon Assembly constituency in Haveri district of Karnataka, where the Lingayat Panchamasali community is numerically strong followed by Muslims. However, former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, belonging to the numerically smaller Sadar Lingayat community, has won the seat four times in a row and is now canvassing for his son Bharath Bommai. The byelection was necessitated because of Mr. Basavaraj Bommai’s entry to the Lok Sabha.

While Shiggaon had Muslim representation earlier, the last election when a Muslim candidate won was in 1999, when the Janata Dal (Secular) candidate Sayed Azeem Peer Khadri registered a victory. Mr. Khadri shifted to the Indian National Congress in 2004 and lost to an Independent candidate, Rajashekhar Sindhur, who in 2008 “sacrificed” his seat to make way for Mr. Basavaraj Bommai, who had quit the Janata Dal (United) and joined the BJP.

The constituency, a bastion of the Congress for over four decades, has become the BJP’s fortress ever since. The leader from the Janata Parivar stables converted the Congress bastion into the BJP bastion and went on to become Chief Minister from the saffron party.

Considering the sizeable Muslim population in the constituency, the Congress has fielded Muslim candidates in most elections so far and has done so for the sixth time in a row this time. The defeat of its candidate Sayed Azeem Peer Khadri four times from 2004 to 2018 and then of Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan in 2023, with a huge margin, has not made the Congress change its plan. Mr. Pathan, who lost against Mr. Basavaraj Bommai, is now fighting it out against Mr. Bharath Bommai, an entrepreneur.

Since 2023, things have changed and the Panchamasali reservation issue is not the talking point now in the constituency where in terms of development still a lot needs to be done. However, the issue of development is buried under mudslinging by leaders of both the parties.

The Congress is also trying to project it as a fight between an ex-Chief Minister’s son and a common party worker, which is being countered by the BJP by saying that it would ensure continuity in development. The BJP has a convenient amnesia for its earlier rhetoric of “dynastic politics”. Mr. Bharath Bommai is a third-generation politician, with his father as well as his grandfather S.R. Bommai having served as Chief Ministers.

Although the opponent seems formidable, the Congress is optimistic because of the lead it got in the Assembly segment during the parliamentary election and is also trying to cash in on some dissent in the BJP camp over the ticket being given to a former Chief Minister’s son. While the BJP seems to have neutralised the discontent over a party worker not being given representation, the Congress has won over Mr. Khadri who withdrew his nomination as a rebel candidate after much dilly-dallying.