Mangaluru City South constituency: Congress faces challenge of snatching seat lost in 2018

The challenge in Mangaluru City South is for the Congress to snatch the seat it lost to the BJP in the last Assembly election. The constituency, which is the heart of Mangaluru, has 38 of the total 60 wards coming under Mangaluru City Corporation. It accounts for 63.33% of the wards.

The challenge in Mangaluru City South is for the Congress to snatch the seat it lost to the BJP in the last Assembly election.

The constituency, which is the heart of Mangaluru, has 38 of the total 60 wards coming under Mangaluru City Corporation. It accounts for 63.33% of the wards. Of the 38 wards in the constituency, 24 wards (63.16 %) are represented by the BJP councillors. Of the remaining 14 wards, 13 wards were won by the Congress and one seat was bagged by the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) in the Mangaluru City Corporation council elections held on November 12, 2019.

The BJP which held the Assembly seat for nearly two decades from 1994 to 2013 had to taste the defeat in 2013 election when the Congress candidate, a novice, J.R. Lobo, a former Karnataka Administrative Service (KAS) officer, defeated the four time-BJP MLA and the then Deputy Speaker in the Assembly N. Yogish Bhat. In the next election five years ago, D. Vedavyasa Kamath, again a novice, defeated Mr. Lobo restoring the seat to the BJP.

About seven decades ago, in the initial three elections, the political fight in the constituency (the erstwhile Mangalore I) was between the Congress and the left-wing Communist Party of India (CPI). In the later five elections the fight was between other parties including Janata Party, Bharatiya Jana Sangha and an independent. There was a straight between between the BJP and the Congress in the past seven elections from 1989 onwards.

The entry of the now BJP (and erstwhile BJS — Bharatiya Jana Sangha) in this constituency and in some other Assembly constituencies of the then undivided Dakshina Kannada as well began in 1972 when C.G. Kamath of the BJS stood second in Mangalore I. BJS emerged runner-up in Sullia, Puttur, Bantwal and Udupi Assembly constituencies in the same elections.

The BJP opened its account in 1983 with V. Dhananjaya Kumar winning against R.F. Rodrigues of the Congress. Mr. Kumar, whom the BJP elevated to contest in the Parliamentary elections, remained a Member of Parliament from the BJP for four terms from the erstwhile Mangalore Parliamentary constituency from the 1991 general elections. Later, he quit the BJP.

The incumbent MLA Mr. Kamath is mainly banking upon the projects taken up under the Mangaluru Smart City Mission, which includes re-constructing the Central Market building and multi-level car parking project and renovation of Mangala stadium; Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation in addition to reducing the drinking water tariff and IT initiatives, such as introducing online system for applying for trade license, paying property tax and water bill in Mangaluru City Corporation; and rejuvenation of water bodies by Mangaluru Urban Development Authority.