 "Congress candidate KV Gowtham (left) and JD(S) candidate Mallesh Babu")
The Congress has lost the Kolar seat, known for the Kolar Gold Fields, and believed to have the highest percentage of Scheduled Castes in any seat across the country, only twice since 1951-52. It lost once in 1984 to the Janata Party and to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2019.
For the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP allocated the seat to its ally, the Janata Dal (Secular), on the back of the latter’s better performance than that of the BJP’s in the 2023 Assembly polls. Of the eight Assembly seats that fall within the Kolar Lok Sabha constituency, the Congress won five, the JD (S) three and the BJP none.
In 17 LS polls since 1951-52, a mere six MPs have represented Kolar in Parliament, including Congress’ KH Muniyappa, who won seven successive elections from 1991 to 2014. However, Muniyappa lost to the BJP’s S Muniswamy in 2019. Neither of them are in the contest five years later. The Congress has fielded KV Gowtham against the JD (S)’s M Mallesh Babu. The Congress fielded Gowtham as a compromise candidate when five of the party’s legislators threatened to quit at suggestions that Muniyappa’s son-in-law should contest. Both candidates are from Scheduled Castes. In the 2023 Assembly polls, Babu lost to the Congress candidate from the Bangarpete seat by a thin margin.
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Despite its fame across the country because of its gold fields, Kolar remains a poor and drought-stricken district. A rail coach factory project, whose foundation stone was laid in 2014, was later shelved. Other unmet election promises include the issue of wage settlement of the employees of the now shut gold mine. People rely on agriculture for livelihood despite the water scarcity. Water supply is from deep borewells, but power supply is erratic.
The Congress is relying on its state government’s welfare schemes, especially the ‘guarantees’ that it rolled out since May 2023 to win the seat back. The JD(S) is hopeful that the sizable Vokkaliga community, along with SCs could help it win. Kolar is one of the three seats that the JD(S) is contesting of Karnataka’s 28 as part of its alliance with the BJP in the state. The polling on the other two, Hassan and Mandya, took place on April 26.
