A first in 56 years: Sringeri DID NOT decide the ruling party in K'taka

In the past, superstitions and predictions have ruled Karnataka politics, but during the elections this time, they seem to have fallen flat. Vicky Nanjappa explains how.

It would be interesting to observe what happened at the Sringeri assembly constituency. This little hill town in Chikkamagaluru disctrict, has proven that whichever party wins this segment goes on to form the government since 1952.

This has been the trend since 1957, but the elections this time have changed that. And for the first time in the history of Karnataka, the party winning from Sringeri will not form the government in Karnataka.

All elections campaigns begun at the Sharadamba temple at Sringeri and each candidate believes that the blessings of the deity not only helps them win the election, but also form the government.

The fight in Sringeri was won by the BJP. Leave alone forming the government, the party almost slipped to the third position in the state. The BJP’s candidate, D N Jeevraj beat his Congress opponent T D Raje Gowda by a margin of 3,452 votes.

All the parties contesting the election from Sringeri were aware of the history of this constituency, and did their best to win the seat.

Here is the sequence of events since 1957:

1957: K Manjappa of Congress wins Sringeri, becomes the chief minister

1962: Manjappa wins again and Congress forms government under S Nijalingappa.

1967: Veerappa Gowda of the Congress wins. Party forms government under Veerendra Patil

1972: Veerappa Gowda wins again and Devraj Urs forms the government.

1978: B Ramaiah of the Congress wins and party forms the government under D Jay Devaraja Urs and later Gundu Rao.

1983: Govinde Gowda of the Janata Party wins and Ramakrishna Hegde forms the government

1985: Govinde Gowda wins the mid term elections and Hegde and S R Bommai form the government under the Janata party.

1989:  K Shyamanna of the Congress wins and Veerendra Patil forms government.

1994: Govinde Gowda of Janata Party (now JD-Secular) wins and Deve Gowda forms the government

1999: D B Chandre Gowda of the Congress wins and S M Krishna forms the government.

2004: D Jeevraj of the BJP wins but the party does not form the government. However BJP enters into a coalition with the JD-S 20 months after the elections to form the government.

2008: Jeevraj wins again the BJP forms the government under B S Yeddyurappa.

2013: Jeevraj wins, but the Congress forms the government.

The trend has been changed after 56 years.