S Bangarappa (Samajawadi Party), N Dharam Singh (Congress), H D Kumaraswamy (Janata Dal-Secular) and B S Yeddyurappa (Bharatiya Janata Party), who have occupied the highest seat of power in the state some time or the other, are testing their electoral fortunes. Previous polls did witness incumbent chief ministers seeking reelection or one or two former chief ministers being in the fray. The 2004 Assembly election, for instance, witnessed only one former CM - S M Krishna - seeking reelection.

But this time four veterans are in the fray. The battle royale will be in Shikaripura, where two former CMs Yeddyurappa and Bangarappa will cross swords, another first in Karnataka’s electoral history.

Shikaripura is the home turf of Yeddyurappa, where he has won four of the five elections since 1983. The only time he tasted defeat was in 1999 against Mahalingappa of Congress.

Bangarappa has won seven times from neighbouring Sorab Assembly seat. Each time he has won with a huge margin. He is now contesting Assembly polls after a gap of 14 years and has made Shikaripura his battle ground.

The Congress’ sudden move to back the SP in Shikaripura has made BJP suspect a tacit pact between the two.

In 2004, Yeddyurappa romped home securing 64,972 votes of the total 1,17,068 votes polled. His nearest rival Shekarappa K (Cong) secured 45,019 votes.   The moot point now is will   Bangarappa factor change the voting pattern.

Up north in Gulbarga, Dharam Singh is once again contesting from Jewargi constituency for a record ninth time.

While Singh’s margin has reduced, the BJP  has increased its vote share from 1.26% in 1989 to 40.9% in 2004.

In Ramanagara, Kumaraswamy is pitted against Mamtha Nichani. The youngest of the foursome, he occupied the CM’s seat as a first time MLA. Ramanagara voters never elected the same candidate consecutively since 1978.