Mangaluru: Though several candidates from different political parties have contested from Mangaluru Lok Sabha constituency so far, the history reveals that it is the battleground for only Congress and BJP.
In the 16 Lok Sabha elections fought here, both Congress and BJP have tasted eight wins each. BJP has been in power in this constituency from the past 29 years. Congress had secured victory in this constituency from 1952 to 1989. But, during the Lok Sabha election held in the year 1991, V Dhananjay Kumar from BJP defeated Congress candidate B Janardhana Poojary and the party registered its victory for the first time.
Though the filing of nomination has already started from March 19, only one candidate, Supreeth Kumar Poojary from Loktantrik Janata Dal has filed the nomination so far. BJP has announced sitting MP Nalin Kumar Kateel as its candidate again. But, Congress is yet to finalise its candidate. The Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) has already selected Ilyas Mohammed Thumbay as its candidate. However, he has not filed his nomination.
In order to secure the confidence of voters, the BJP has strengthened its Shakthi Kendras across the district. Each Shakthi Kendra comprises five booths. In Dakshina Kannada district, there were 417 Shakthi Kendras and 54 Mahashakthi Kendras. Party workers had carried out the door-to-door campaign and they are trying to impress the voters with the achievements of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government. The BJP had also launched a campaign ‘Mera Parivar BJP Parivar’ and a sticker declaring ‘Nanna Parivara BJP Parivara ‘ was also posted on the doors of the party workers’ houses. With the Modi wave and these campaigns, BJP has been trying to woo the voters.
But, Congress is trying to reach the voters by projecting the failures of sitting BJP MP Nalin Kumar Kateel. It had activated its accounts on social media including Facebook and Twitter in order to highlight the failures of Nalin. They highlight the delay in completing national highway works and flyovers, both at Thokkottu and Pumpwell. Meanwhile, booth committees have been constituted in 1,861 booths, with each committee having a president and a secretary. Block Congress Committees have started ‘Janasamparka Abhiyan’ by visiting the houses of the voters.
The district unit of JDS has already announced that it would support that candidate who would be selected by the leaders of the coalition. As the candidate has not been finalised so far, they have not started their campaign yet.
Dhananjay Kumar contested four times from this constituency. However, he was denied ticket from BJP during the 2004 LS polls. He was replaced by D V Sadananda Gowda. Since 1977, Congress had not fielded any other candidate from this Lok Sabha constituency except B Janardhana Poojary and M Veeraappa Moily. When Poojary was defeated thrice against V Dhananjaya Kumar, Congress replaced him with Veerappa Moily in 1999 and 2004 LS polls. However, Congress failed to retain power. Again Congress party allowed Poojary to contest in 2009 and 2014 against BJP candidate Nalin Kumar Kateel. However, Poojary did not get any success.
In 2009, Nalin defeated Janardhana Poojary with a margin of 40,420 votes and in 2014, the winning margin increased to 1.43 lakh votes. Though there was opposition to Nalin’s candidature this time, BJP High Command had already finalised the name of Nalin this time too.
