Vijayapura: The election for the coming Graduates’ Constituency is getting intense with the straight fight between the ruling BJP and the Congress.
While the BJP has given a ticket to sitting MLC Hanumanth Nirani who is hoping to win for the second time, the Congress has given a ticket to relatively new face, Sunil Sank.
The Graduates Constituency which spreads in three Districts, Vijayapura, Bagalakote and Belagavi has around 99,598 voters who can decide the fate of the candidates.
The leaders of both parties are putting all out efforts to woo the voters of three Districts, for which they are holding a hectic campaign. The election is scheduled for coming Monday June 13, therefore, the party leaders and the candidates are busy putting their last efforts to convince as many voters as possible to vote for their candidates.
The constituency has 33 assembly segments which makes the constituency very wide. According to sources, Nirani who was almost sure of securing a ticket again from the BJP, has started the campaign at least two months in advance of the announcement of the ticket.
He began preparing ground for the election campaign by meeting students and local leaders.
His brother and Minister Murgesh Nirani is also holding rallies to ensure the victory of Hanumanth. Several party leaders including Pralhad Joshi and B. S. Yediyurappa has already held rallies seeking votes for the party’s candidate.
On the other hand, the Congress is pinning hopes on Sunil Sank, the advocate and native of Athani Taluk of Belagavi District.
Though Sunil is a relatively novice and not much popular among the voters, he is largely depending on the party leaders to campaign for him.
Since he got limited time to campaign, he could not visit all the assembly segments, however he has made sure that the elected representatives of his party campaign for him in their respective areas.
Meanwhile, both parties are focusing more on Belagavi District as the District alone has around 45,000 votes. The JD (S) meanwhile has not fielded its candidate as the party has limited popularity in these regions.
It may be noted that the constituency was represented for the four terms by M. P. Nadagouda who even set a record of winning the election in the Graduates Constituency for the highest number of times.
In the last election, Hanumanth Nirani defeated Mahantesh Koujalagi of the Congress. Nirani secured 43605 votes and Koujalagi secured 23518 votes. JD(S) candidate got only 3536 votes.
This time, Nirani is hoping to win by a bigger margin by defeating the Congress candidate. The fate of the candidates however will get sealed on Monday.
