JOIN USElection fever is slowly catching up in the Gauribidanur Assembly constituency, bordering Andhra Pradesh.
The constituency, which has a large number of illiterate voters, has elected Congress as well as the Janata Parivar candidates to the Assembly in the previous elections.
With the elections to the State Assembly in offing, ticket aspirants and leaders of major political parties have started visiting villages in the constituency, hold meetings and, are also doing their best to win over local leaders from rival parties.
Congress
The sitting MLA N H Shivashankar Reddy, who has won three elections in a row in 1999, 2004 and 2008, is all set to enter the fray as the Congress candidate.
After he was denied the Congress ticket, Reddy contested as an Independent candidate in 1999 and made it to the Assembly for the first time. In the next two elections, he emerged victorious as Congress nominee.
There were no other contenders for the Congress ticket. But, following ongoing cold war in the local unit of the party, Gauribidanur Rural Block Congress president Venugopal Reddy is said to have evinced interested in contesting the elections.
Janata Dal(S)
Two former MLAs N Jyothi Reddy and Ashwathanarayana Reddy are trying hard to get the JD (S) tickets. Jyothi Reddy, who was elected to the Assembly from here in 1994 as Janata Dal candidate, has lost the subsequent three elections in 1990, 2004 and 2008.
Similarly, Ashwathnarayana Reddy, who was elected MLA on the Congress ticket in 1989, lost the elections in 1994. He unsuccessfully contested the 2008 Assembly polls from Chikkaballapur constituency. Originally a Congressman, he joined the JD (S) only a few months ago.
BJP
Chikkaballapur district BJP president N M Ravinarayana Reddy, who lost the 2008 elections, is planning to try his luck for the second time.
He has already started the poll preparations in the right earnest and is touring the constituency. He has even opened party offices at several villages and is inducting people into the party, according to BJP sources.
BSR Congress
The fledgling BSR Congress has almost decided on fielding Somashekar as its candidate from Gauribidanur. Though a political novice, Somashekar has involved himself in various social works in the taluk.
CPM
The CPM has decided to field its candidate for the second time from the constituency.
Siddagangappa, local CPM leader, had failed to turn up trumps the last time, but the party is making all preparations to win this time by forming units in the rural areas. It is especially organising protests based on civic issues to woo voters.
The candidate for the poll, however, is yet to be decided upon, said party sources.