Posted by Bengaluru: The Bangalore Rural (Ramanagara) Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka, formed in 2008 after delimitation. Eight assembly constituencies form this Lok Sabha constituency. All of these were derived from the former Kanakapura Lok Sabha constituency. The first elections in Bangalore Rural were held in 2009. The first Member of Parliament to be elected from this seat was HD Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal (Secular).
The elections in Bangalore Rural are being held on April 26, in the second phase of the Lok Sabha Elections. The counting of votes for the seat will be held on June 4, just like the other seats in the country.
Prominent candidates from Bangalore Rural
The Bangalore Rural seat will see a high voltage fight in the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections, 2024. While the BJP has fielded CN Manjunath, the Congress party has fielded Karnataka’s deputy CM’s brother DK Suresh. In 2019, Suresh had won the Lok Sabha seat securing 878258 votes while 671388 votes were polled for the BJP candidate, Ashwathnarayangowda. In 2014 also DK Suresh had won the seat, securing 652723 votes. In 2014, the Bangalore Rural parliamentary constituency had a total of 21,90,398 registered electors.
Renowned cardiologist CN Manjunath has been fielded by the BJP this time, while Congress continues with its traditional winning candidate. Manjunath was the director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences & Research for 18 years, the largest Heart Care Centre in Southeast Asia. The Institutes policy of “Treatment first and Payment Next” was praised by former US President Barack Obama. The then US President was impressed with the policy of providing high quality cardiac care at affordable rates.
Talking to news agency ANI, the doctor-turned-politician said that he was confident of winning the seat against his Congress rival. He claimed that the ‘mathematics’ was in favour of the BJP. Explaining the statement he said that in the 2019 elections the Janata Dal (Secular) was contesting in alliance with the Congress, while this time it is with the BJP, which makes him mathematically ahead in the polls. Manjunath is the son-in-law of former PM HD Deve Gowda.
Manjunath further said that he has been receiving a very good response from the people in the constituency. He however said that initially he was not interested in contesting polls, but his brother-in-law HD Kumaraswamy and other leaders of the party, came to him and convinced him to throw his hat into the political arena.