Chandrashekhar Subedar is a BJP ticket aspirant from Shahapur constituency | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Members of two families only have been elected from Shahapur Assembly constituency for the last four decades and they have shared power among themselves.
The Sirwal family and the Darshanapur family have been in the fight for democratic power in the constituency since 1983. And, none from outside these families has succeeded in defeating them in the election battle.
In the 1978 elections, Savoor Shivanna won against Inayat-ur-Rehman by a margin of 13,034 votes. Mr. Shivanna contested on Congress ticket, while Mr. Inayat-ur-Rehman was a JNP candidate.
Thereafter, in the next election in 1983, Bapugouda from the Darshanapur family entered electoral politics and contested on JNP ticket against Mr. Shivanna, who contested on Congress ticket, and won by a margin of 7,506 votes. Thus, the Darshnapur family started strengthening its roots in politics in the constituency and has continued to grow stronger.
In 1985, the Sirwal family entered politics in the Assembly segment with Shivashekharappagouda Sirwal contesting the election on Congress ticket against Mr. Bapugouda Darshanapur and winning it with a margin of 5,755 votes.
Sharanabasappa Darshanapur is the Congress candidate | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
In the 1989 election, Mr. Shivashekharappagouda Sirwal contested on Congress ticket again and won against Ninganagowda Desai Hadnoor by a margin of 19,085 votes. In the 1994 election, Sharanabasappa Darshanapur, son of Mr. Bapugowda Darshanapur, entered politics and contested the election on Janata Dal ticket against Mr. Shivashekharappagouda Sirwal of the Congress and won by a margin of 13,826 votes.
In 1999, Mr. Shivashekharappagouda Sirwal and in 2004 and 2008, Mr. Sharanabasappa Darshanapur registered victories against each other. In 2004, Mr. Sharanabasappa Darshanapur contested on Janata Dal(S) ticket. But, in 2008 he joined the Congress.
In 2013, Guru Patil, son of Mr. Shivashekharappagouda Sirwal, entered politics after his father’s demise and contested the election on B.S. Yediyurappa’s Karnataka Janata Party ticket against Mr. Sharanabasappa Darshanapur to win it by a margin of 5,796 votes. But, in the 2018 election, Mr. Sharanabasappa Darshanapur wrested the constituency by winning it against Mr. Guru Patil of the BJP.
Meanwhile, several leaders, including Ayyanna Kannekolur, Sharanappa Saladapur, Mallanagouda Patil Ukkinal and Ameenraddi Yalagi, contested the elections with a view to defeating candidates from both the Darshanapur and Sirwal families but in vain, as voters did not accept their leadership.
This year, Mr. Sharanabasappa Darshanapur is the Congress candidate.
Ameenraddi Yalagi is also hoping to get BJP ticket | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
And, there are three contenders for the BJP ticket, Mr. Guru Patil [of the Sirwal family], Ameenraddi Yalagi and Chandrashekhar Subedar. If Dr. Subedar gets ticket, this will be his first election as Mr. Yalagi and Mr. Guru Patil have already contested the elections.
These three are lobbying for the BJP ticket. However, the party high command will select one among them to contest against Mr. Sharanabasappa Darshanapur. Now, speculation is rife in the constituency that the high command will choose a tough candidate to be pitted against the Congress to win the constituency.
