Channapatna bypolls: Micro management of OBCs and MBCs might hold the key

While the Congress is looking to make inroads into the Vokkaliga voter base and also woo the Muslim voters, the JD(S) is focusing on backward classes and hoping to retain Muslim votes.

In an election that is expected to go down to the wire, with every vote counting in the bipolar contest between two Vokkaliga candidates in Channapatna, the focus is on votes of the backward classes, though the land-owning Vokkaliga community remains politically dominant.

The Congress, which has not won the seat since 2013, is looking to make inroads into the Vokkaliga voter base and also woo the Muslim voters. The Janata Dal (Secular), now part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which derives its strength from the Vokkaliga voter base, is focusing on backward classes and hoping to retain Muslim votes.

Of about 2.32 lakh voters in the constituency, it is estimated that Vokkaliga voters constitute about 1.1 lakh followed by Muslims with about 30,000 votes. The Congress candidate and four-time legislator C.P. Yogeshwar is locked in a see-saw battle with NDA candidate Nikhil Kumaraswamy, who is trying his luck in the electoral politics for third time.

“Votes from the most backward classes (MBCs) and other backward classes (OBCs) have emerged to be important for the JD(S),” a party source said.

While the BJP benefitted from its alliance in the parliamentary polls, where the JD(S) managed to transfer its Vokkaliga votes in Old Mysore region, the regional party seems to be benefitting from the BJP in Channapatna. Several OBC and MBC BJP leaders are entrusted with the task of micro-managing the communities since the JD(S) lacks many such leaders in its ranks.

It has brought Mysuru MP Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar as a considerable number of Urs community voters are in the constituency, while former BJP legislator N.L. Narendra Babu, from the Tigala community, too, is on the field. Former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa’s appeal among Lingayats here remains intact, sources claimed, adding that Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy is visible among the SC community voters.

Similarly, JD(S) legislator for Devadurga (ST) constituency Karemma G. Nayak is working closely with Dombru and Iruliga, nomadic tribes, found near hillocks of Channapatna. Former Minister Bandeppa Kashempur is trying to woo Kuruba voters.