Bypolls in Sira, RR Nagar constituencies to be held on November 3

The Sira and Rajarajeshwarinagar assembly constituencies will have bypolls on November 3, the Election Commission has announced, setting the stage for state Congress president DK Shivakumar’s first electoral litmus test.

The bypoll to Sira in Tumakuru was necessitated due to the death of its JD(S) MLA B Sathyanarayana, whereas Rajarajeshwarinagar in Bengaluru will vote again after its MLA Munirathna was disqualified under the anti-defection law last year.

He later joined the BJP. The bypolls will be notified on October 9 and the last date for candidates to file nominations is October 16. The results of the November 3 bypoll will be out on November 10, the EC said. Sira and Rajarajeshwarinagar both have a significant number of Vokkaliga voters.

For Shivakumar, the Rajarajeshwarinagar bypoll is seen as a matter of prestige since the segment falls under the Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha constituency represented by his brother DK Suresh. The party is also mindful that the BJP bagged a lead in the Rajarajeshwarinagar constituency during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, which Suresh ultimately won. Former Magadi MLA HC Balakrishna, late IAS officer DK Ravi’s father-in-law Hanumantharayappa and Bengaluru North Congress president Rajkumar M are said to be in the race for the Rajarajeshwarinagar ticket.

Munirathna, a film producer who was one of the 17 rebels who helped the BJP come to power, is expecting the party’s ticket. However, Tulsi Muniraju Gowda, the BJP’s 2018 candidate whose legal battle challenging Munirathna’s win is still in court, remains a ticket aspirant. “I'm confident the party will stand by me. Having said that, I will not work against the party's interests," Gowda said.

If Munirathna gets the BJP ticket, he will rely on his own personal clout besides the support he is likely to get from Cooperation Minister ST Somashekhar and Urban Development Minister Byrathi Basavaraj - the trio dubbed as ‘SBM’ during last year’s political crisis - and they will look to challenge Shivakumar, their old party mate.

In Sira, the Congress wants to field former minister TB Jayachandra, who lost the 2018 polls and has been camping in the constituency. The BJP is trying to build a base here with party vice-president BY Vijayendra, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s son, looking to repeat last year’s victory in the KR Pet constituency, its first victory in the JD(S) bastion of Mandya.

For the JD(S), the bypolls are a matter of survival given that both seats are dominated by Vokkaligas, a community it banks on.