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Shivajinagar, one of Bengaluru’s oldest and smallest constituencies, will see 15 candidates in the fray during the 2023 Karnataka Assembly polls. The area has traditionally been a Congress stronghold with the party winning the last four elections, including the 2019 bypoll. The constituency would be witnessing a straight contest between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Shivajinagar residents have long been expressing their dissatisfaction over the poor road infrastructure, marked by potholes and frequent traffic snarls. "The road conditions in Shivajinagar have been a cause of concern for us for years now. It's frustrating to see that despite being an important part of the city, the roads are still riddled with potholes making commuting a nightmare," said Ramesh, a resident of the area.
Kavita, an Information Technology worker residing in Shivajinagar, said, "It's not just the roads; even the footpaths are in a terrible state. It's unsafe for pedestrians to walk on them.
Incumbent MLA Rizwan Arshad is confident of winning the election and is running a development campaign to showcase his accomplishments, which include infrastructure development, healthcare, and sanitation improvements. He has been hailed as more approachable than his predecessor, Roshan Baig, who was embroiled in the IMA scam, a ponzi scheme in which hundreds of investors were allegedly cheated. The 2019 bypoll was necessitated by the disqualification of Roshan Baig, who was ousted by the Congress party.
The BJP, the Congress's main rival in Shivajinagar, has fielded N Chandra, a former Congress corporator. Chandra is counting on his track record of building 700 houses during his previous term as corporator to win the election. The party is also focusing on targeting Tamil voters, who make up 15% of the constituency. The Congress is relying on the support of Muslim voters, who form 40% of the population.
However, the Janata Dal(S) has faced a major setback in Shivajinagar, as the nomination of their candidate Abdul Zafar Ali has been rejected. The reason cited for the rejection is that Ali's name was not included in the voter list. Ali, who had been residing abroad for an extended period, returned to Bengaluru to contest in the upcoming elections. Since his name was not on the voter list of any constituency in Karnataka, the Election Commission rejected his nomination papers.
With a firm focus on improving infrastructure and tackling corruption, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Prakash Nedungadi is confident that the party's performance-based approach will resonate with voters. "Unlike other parties, we are not wooing voters with money. They are done with corruption and they recognise that AAP is different from other parties," said Prakash, who has spent 38 years in the corporate sector. "The public is tired of corruption and values the middle-class principle of achieving success without dishonesty, which will surpass the realm of dirty politics. AAP is a party focused on performance, and we have great confidence in our prospects."
There were also concerns about voter data being collected illegally in some constituencies, including Shivajinagar. In November 2022, a TNM investigation revealed that a private agency with links to the BJP had been collecting voter data illegally in Chickpet, Mahadevapura, and Shivajinagar. Following the investigation, the Election Commission of India ordered a revision of the electoral rolls in these three constituencies. The final electoral roll for the constituency was published on January 15, 2023, but just eight days later, the BJP demanded the removal of 26,000 names from the roll.
Names of around 7,000 voters are likely to be removed from the electoral roll of the Shivajinagar constituency, as the Karnataka High Court dismissed a petition filed by Congress MLA Rizwan Arshad seeking to retain the names of absentees, shifted, and dead voters.