BENGALURU: Bangalore Central, a cosmopolitan Lok Sabha constituency, has been a BJP stronghold for 15 years with incumbent MP, PC Mohan, already scoring a hattrick of victories. Mohan, an OBC, is eyeing his fourth win, while Congress, desperate to wrest the seat from BJP’s clutches, has presented a fresh face from the Muslim community, Mansoor Ali Khan, an educationist.
Of the eight assembly constituencies, Congress holds five: Shivajinagar, Shanthinagar, Sarvagnanagar, Chamarajpet and Gandhinagar. Four of the five Congress assembly seats have a strong minority population, while two — CV Raman Nagar and Mahadevapura — of the three seats with BJP are reserved for Scheduled Castes.
And yet Congress’ superiority in the assembly counts for little. Congress had held five assembly seats even in 2019, but BJP voters still managed to bring back Mohan for a third term.
Diverse electorate Parties estimate that the Muslim population in the constituency is as high as 4.5 lakh and it has at least 6 lakh OBC voters, while there’s a significant number of Dalits too. Besides Muslims and Dalits, the constituency also has a strong presence of other Ahinda voters, while non-Kannadiga migrants (Telugu and Tamil primarily) add further to its diversity.
Congress is leaving no stone unturned in wooing minority votes. Khan says the weight of five MLAs in the segment is solidly behind him, while Mohan says he has a track record of “taking all communities along”. The saffron party is also confident of the larger ‘Hindu’ vote offsetting consolidation of Muslim votes for Congress.
A member of Khan’s campaign team told TOI: “Last time, BJP limped past the post. With the response we’ve got throughout our campaign, we see more than an outside chance to wrest the seat. In 2019, Prakash Raj [who contested as an independent] was also in the fray, which not only split votes but also resulted in others consolidating for BJP.”
Learning from the past But if past elections are a barometer, then parties and their candidates know better than to go by pure caste and community arithmetic. Chemistry with voters could prove critical in a segment that has locals cohabiting with migrants cheek by jowl, shanty towns and skyscrapers hosting tech behemoths and narrow bylanes and expressways.
Unlike the other segments in Bengaluru in 2019, Bangalore Central was not an easy win for BJP. Congress eventually bit the dust after a see-saw battle which extended to the final round of counting. But Mohan is confident of improving his margin of 70,968 from 2019. “With the way our govt at the Centre has performed and my own performance, I am confident of winning by a margin of 2 lakh votes.”
Promises & delivery At the core of this season’s campaign strategies of the two major parties are promises. Khan promises to “reclaim Bengaluru for all its citizens” with his “guarantee” agenda, while Mohan makes the promise of “delivery”, and claims his tenure shows how he has delivered on promises over the years.
Beyond banking on his track record, highlighting infrastructure and developmental projects he has undertaken during his three terms — expansion of Namma Metro, suburban rail development, and smart city initiatives among others — Mohan is banking on Prime Minister Modi’s track record.
On the other hand, Khan promises to address the city’s pressing issues like depletion of green cover and water scarcity. He is aligning his campaign with the five poll guarantees already implemented by the state govt.
Responses from voters have been mixed, with some passionately reminding candidates that the responsibility of addressing local issues is not just with MLAs and corporators, while others present a more cynical view that ground realities don’t change regardless of who is elected.
That Mohan isn’t complacent, and Khan is leaving nothing to chance in his bid to change the status quo, suggests a close battle on the cards. But only time will tell which way the pendulum will swing.