Over the last 56 years Dharwad Parliamentary constituency has seen five MPs, three of them from Congress. The constituency which was once the stronghold of Congress has now become a BJP bastion. The Congress has fielded Kunnur who is banking heavily on Lingayat voters who are the major component of the electorate. Interestingly, despite the constituency having large number Lingayat voters, so far only one Lingayat-BJP’s Vijay Sankeshwar- has won the election here. Other Lingayat candidates Shankaranna Munavalli, Chandrakant Bellad, Veeranna Mattikatti and former chief secretary B S Patil have failed to win voters’ favour in this parliament constituency.
Kunnur who belongs to Panchamasali sub-sect in Lingayats is trying to consolidate the Panchamasali vote bank. He is busy parleying with the Panchamsali leaders. Time will tell whether his riding on caste factor works or not.
D P Karmarkar, a Brahmin, who was health minister in Nehru’s cabinet was elected twice from this constituency. He won in 1952 and 1957 securing about 59 per cent of the votes polled.
Then it was another Brahmin Sarojini Mahishi who was minister in Indira Gandhi’s cabinet to represent Dharwad North. She won four times consecutively in 1962, 1967, 1971 and 1977. Her victory against Jagannathrao Joshi in 1977 was remarkable because it was at a time where the Congress had been routed in the country to bring Janata Party to power. Mahishi’s changing of loyalty cost her dearly when she lost in 1980. She had shifted to Janata Party and the Congress had fielded Kuruba leader D K Naikar who secured 58 per cent of votes polled to retain the seat for Congress. Naikar went on to hold fort in 1984, 1989 and 1991 though his share of votes had declined to 52.31 per cent, 45.08 per cent and 33.26 per cent respectively.
Naikar’s dream run came to a halt in 1996 when business tycoon Vijay Sankeshwar entered the fray as BJP candidate. Sankeshwar was elected securing 228,572 (39.13 per cent) votes defeating his nearest rival Shankaranna Munavalli of Janata Dal by a margin of 40,351 votes. Munavalli had earned 32.22 per cent votes and Naikar had been pushed to third place with 25.64 per cent votes.
During the 1998 election it was the same trio in the fray. Sankeshwar who won had increased his vote share to 50.15 per cent while Naikar rose to second position with 31.07 per cent votes. Shankaranna Munavalli was third with 16.79 per cent votes.
Veeranna Mattikatti who is presently the chairman of Karnataka Legislative Council was Congress candidate against BJP’s Sankeshwar in 1999. His candidature was announced at the last moment leaving very little time for him to campaign. But still Mattikatti came close to Sankeshwar who eventually won by a margin of 41,580 votes. Mattikatti had managed 42.17 per cent votes as against Sankeshwar’s 47.94 per cent. The changed political equation within BJP made Sankeshwar quit the party prior to 2004 elections paving way for Prahlad Joshi to fill the slot. Joshi won by 83078 votes against B S Patil. While Joshi secured 47.50 per cent of votes polled Patil could manage 37.25 per cent.
