Shikaripura is a constituency for the Karnataka Assembly, situated in the Shimoga district in Karnataka. Sudhakar Shetty from the Janata Dal (Secular) is contesting against GB Malatesha from the Congress and BY Vijayendra from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In the 2018 elections, seasoned leader and former chief minister BS Yeddiyurappa from the BJP emerged victorious in the seat, triumphing over Malatesh of the Congress with a significant margin of 35,397 votes.

The constituency has a total of 1,84,956 voters, including general voters, NRI voters, and service voters. The number of male general voters is 93,983, female general voters are 90,958.

This year, the BJP has nominated Vijayendra, son of Yediyurappa, as its candidate from the constituency who won the seat by 11,008 votes. Yediyurappa senior has successfully won the seat eight times since 1983. On the other hand, the Congress has once again chosen GB Malatesha as their candidate.

In the 2018 assembly polls, Malatesha secured the runner-up position with an impressive vote count of 51,586, while the overall voter turnout stood at 33 percent. Yediyurappa emerged victorious with a staggering margin of 86,983 votes and a voting rate of 56 percent. HT Balegar, the JD(S) candidate, secured the third position with 13,191 votes.

Karnataka Assembly election 2023

Three parties are competing for power in Karnataka this year. The Congress is committed to winning back the seats it lost in the previous election, while the BJP is focused on keeping control of the state.

HD Kumaraswamy, a senior JDS leader, has also asserted with confidence that his party will win a majority of 123 seats and form the government on its own.

There are a total of 58,282 polling stations, of which 28,866 fall in urban areas. The average number of voters per polling station is 883. The Election Commission of India said it has identified sensitive booths where it will deploy a three-pronged approach.

Demography of Karnataka

There are a total of 5.21 crore voters in the state, which includes 2.59 women voters and 2.62 crore male voters. Of the total voters, 12.15 lakh voters are above the age of 80, 16,976 are above the age of 100, 4,699 are third gender and 9.17 lakh are first-time voters. The Election Commission has said that it will set up special booths for vulnerable tribal groups and transgenders.

There are 9.17 lakh first-time voters in Karnataka. In a first, the ECI has also made voting from home available in the state for people above 80 years of age and those with disabilities in the upcoming elections.

First Published:May 12, 2023 12:02 PM IST