Karnataka will see one of the most exciting contests between BJP and Congress as it always has. Though BJP had 19 out of 28 seats in the 2009 General Elections, last year's assembly elections saw Congress winning 122 out of 224 seats with BJP and JD(S) sharing 40 each. With the Modi factor a key election point for BJP this year, urban constituencies could see BJP holding the edge while Congress still holds sway in most rural constituencies.
Some important constituencies to watch out for -
Some important constituencies to watch out for -
- Bangalore South - One of the most interesting battles, but I think the 5-time sitting MP Ananth Kumar still has the edge due to party strength in spite of Nilekani's strong campaign
- Bellary - The mining scam is most likely to affect BJP's chances here. Sushma Swaraj had opposed the inclusion of Sreeramulu in BJP. But you never know, Sreeramulu is quite a big shot in this area and could win the seat easily.
- Bijapur - This constituency will be a tough fight between Ramesh Jigajinagi of BJP vs Prakash Rathod of Congress. Though the youth in the constituency seem to want Modi at the centre, the presence of 7 Congress MLAs could work in Rathod's favour
- Chikkballapur - Definitely a contest to watch out for. H.D.Kumaraswamy, ex-CM is expected to win comfortably against Veerappa Moily
- Dakshina Kannada - Considered a BJP/RSS stronghold, this constituency has seen a tremendous shift in demographics over the years and it could see Congress grasping power for the first time
- Davanagere - A perfect three-way contest between BJP's sitting MP Siddheshwara, Congress's Mallikarjuna and JD(S)'s Mahima Patel, son of former CM JH Patel. It will be one of the closest contests in the state and could go any way. Due to Congress's strength in the state assembly, I have predicted a win for them.
- Mandya - Actress Divya Spandana a.k.a Ramya won here in the recently held bypolls with the support of Ambareesh, but this time around without his open support, she would find it difficult to win
- Hassan - Deve Gowda's stronghold. But at 82, it needs to be seen if he still has the political clout to win here against Congress's A.Manju.
Constituency-wise predictions below
| No | Constituency | Predicted Winner | Party | Other Top 2 Candidate | Party |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BAGALKOT | Ajay Kumar Sarnaik | INC | Gaddigoudar Parvtagouda Chandanagouda | BJP |
| 2 | BANGALORE CENTRAL | P.C. Mohan | BJP | V. Bala Krishnan | AAP |
| 3 | BANGALORE NORTH | D.V. Sadananda Gowda | BJP | C.Narayana Swamy | INC |
| 4 | BANGALORE RURAL | D.K.Suresh | INC | R. Prabhakara Reddy | JD(S) |
| 5 | BANGALORE SOUTH | Ananth Kumar | BJP | Nandan Nilekani | INC |
| 6 | BELGAUM | Suresh Angadi | BJP | Lakshmi Hebbalkar | INC |
| 7 | BELLARY | N Y Hanumantappa | INC | B Sreeramulu | BJP |
| 8 | BIDAR | N.Dharam Singh | INC | Bandeppa Khashempur | JD(S) |
| 9 | BIJAPUR | Ramesh Jigajinagi | BJP | Prakash Rathod | INC |
| 10 | CHAMARAJANAGAR | A.R. Krishna Murthy | BJP | R. Dhruvanarayana | INC |
| 11 | CHIKKBALLAPUR | H D Kumara Swamy | JD(S) | M Veerappa Moily | INC |
| 12 | CHIKKODI | Ramesh Vishwanath Katti | BJP | Prakash Hukkeri | INC |
| 13 | CHITRADURGA | Janardhana Swamy | BJP | B.N.Chandrappa | INC |
| 14 | DAKSHINA KANNADA | Janardhana Poojary | INC | Nalin Kumar Katil | BJP |
| 15 | DAVANAGERE | S S Mallikarjun | INC | G.M. Siddeshwara | BJP |
| 16 | DHARWAD | Pralhad Joshi | BJP | Vinay Kulkarni | INC |
| 17 | GULBARGA | Mallikarjun Kharge | INC | Revasing Loku | BJP |
| 18 | HASSAN | H.D. Devegowda | JD(S) | Manju. A. | INC |
| 19 | HAVERI | Saleem Azeez Ahmed | INC | Udasi Shivakumar Channabasappa | BJP |
| 20 | KOLAR | K H Muniyappa | INC | Em. Narayanaswamy | BJP |
| 21 | KOPPAL | Sanganna A. Karadi | BJP | Basavaraj Hitnal | INC |
| 22 | MANDYA | C.S.Puttaraju | JD(S) | Divya Spandana | INC |
| 23 | MYSORE | Adagooru H Vishwanath | INC | Prathap Simha | BJP |
| 24 | RAICHUR | B.V.Nayak | INC | D.B.Nayak | JD(S) |
| 25 | SHIMOGA | B.S. Yeddyurappa | BJP | Geetha Shivarajkumar | JD(S) |
| 26 | TUMKUR | G.S.Basavaraj | BJP | S.P.Muddahanumegowda | INC |
| 27 | UDUPI CHIKMAGALUR | Shobha Karandlaje | BJP | Jayaprakash Hegde | INC |
| 28 | UTTARA KANNADA | Anantkumar Hegde | BJP | Deshpande Prashanth | INC |
And the seats tally would be as follows
| Party | Seats |
|---|---|
| BJP | 14 |
| INC | 11 |
| JD(S) | 3 |
I would peg the maximum for BJP at 14 though.Very difficult for them to win more. Most opinion polls are predicting a minimum of 15 for Congress, which I don't see happening.