Lok Sabha elections 2024: In Bengaluru Rural, it's a battle of Vokkaligas between DK Suresh, Deve Gowda's son-in-law
HD Deve Gowda's popular cardiologist son-in-law CN Majunath for the Bangalore Rural constituency. Bengaluru South will witness a tough battle of the influential Vokkaliga families in the Congress bastion, that has been won by DK Suresh since 2013.
Congress' incumbent MP DK Suresh is set to lock horns with renowned cardiologist C N Manjunath who is the son-in-law of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and is contesting on a BJP ticket, for the Bengaluru Rural seat. Located across the districts of Ramanagara, Bangalore Urban, and Tumakuru in southern Karnataka, the Bengaluru Rural constituency boasts a predominantly rural landscape, accounting for 80% of its territory.
However, interspersed within this rural expanse are IT parks and industrial townships, reflecting pockets of urban development. With a diverse electorate, approximately 70% Vokkaligas and 15% Muslims make up the constituency's voting demographics, presenting a complex and varied political landscape.
In 2009, the first election after the 2008 delimitation, the Bangalore Rural seat was won by Deve Gowda’s son and former CM H D Kumaraswamy. DK Suresh won the constituency in a bypoll in 2013 and retained it in 2014 and 2019, with a vote share of over 44% and 54% respectively.
The Congress leaders DK Shivakumar and DK Suresh Brothers dealt another blow to the JD(S) first family during Karnataka Assembly polls 2023 when Congress candidate Iqbal Hussain defeated Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil by more than 10,000 votes in the Ramanagara Assembly segment that had been with the “JD(S)’s first family" since 2004. Apart from Ramanagara, the Congress holds Anekal, Kunigal, Magadi and Kanakapura Assembly segments while the BJP has MLAs in the Rajarajeshwarinagar and Bangalore
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