Buoyed by its Assembly poll success, Congress seeks to reclaim its bastion

Belagavi: The Chikkodi parliamentary constituency was once a bastion of Congress with consecutive wins from 1962 to 1991. But in the next seven general elections, Congress managed to win just one in 2014 with Prakash Hukkeri scraping through by a slender margin of a tad over 3,000 votes against Ramesh Katti.

However, buoyed by the success of the 2023 Assembly elections, the Congress is out to turn tables on BJP. The Congress has fielded a first-timer Priyanka Jarkiholi, daughter of minister Satish Jarkiholi, while the BJP renominated Annasaheb Jolle.

Ahinda factor will come in handy for Congress as Satish Jarkiholi has been associated with it. Also, the constituency has a sizeable Dalit and minority population, which, the party thinks, may work in its favour

Congress also has five MLAs in the constituency. BJP has been banking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi factor and achievements of the BJP government at the Centre. BJP has three Assembly seats in the constituency and it lost three seats, which is a worrying factor for it, say observers.

The Chikkodi constituency has witnessed 16 general elections since 1957. The Congress emerged victorious 10 times, BJP managed to win 3 times while Janata Dal, Lok Shakti and Janata Dal (United) managed to win it once.

Congress candidates D A Katti and V L Patil had won from Chikkodi in the 1957 and 1962 Lok Sabha elections respectively. After the seat was reserved for scheduled castes following delimitation, Congress candidate B Shankaranand made the seat his own with seven consecutive wins since 1967. In the 1996 election, Ratnamala Savanur of Janata Dal halted Shankaranand and the Congress’ juggernaut with a convincing win. She was rewarded with ministership for her giant-killing act. Ratnamala served as Union Minister of State for Planning and Implementation in Gujral ministry.

Changing political equations at national level and in the state resulted in Ramesh Jigajinagi of Lok Shakti sending the heavyweight Shankaranand into political oblivion. Jigajinagi scored a hat-trick of wins with three different parties 1998 (Lok Shakti), 1999 (Janata Dal) and 2004 (BJP). 

After delimitation in the year 2009, Chikkodi parliamentary constituency became general and BJP candidate Ramesh Katti won by defeating Congress candidate Prakash Hukkeri, but in 2014 election Hukkeri exacted revenge against Katti by slender margin though. The BJP regained, however, wrested the seat in the 2019 elections with its candidate Annasaheb Jolle, riding on Modi wave, made Hukkeri bite the dust.

It needs to be seen if Congress will manage to consolidate its vote share of assembly elections to wrest the seat from the BJP or will voters stand with the sitting MP.