Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka state in southern India. Currently the seat is held by Tejasvi Surya of Bharatiya Janata Party who won against B. K. Hariprasad of Indian National Congress by a margin of 3,31,192 votes in the 2019 Indian general election. The twist here is that there is a Vidhan Sabha seat named Bangalore South as well, but the Vidhan Sabha seat with the same name comes under Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha seat, not Bangalore South Lok Sabha seat. A bit confusing, for sure.
Assembly segments
At present, Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency comprises the following 8 Legislative Assembly segments:
Constituency number
Name
Reserved for
District
166
Govindraj Nagar
-
Bangalore Urban
167
Vijay Nagar
-
Bangalore Urban
169
Chickpet
-
Bangalore Urban
170
Basavanagudi
-
Bangalore Urban
171
Padmanaba Nagar
-
Bangalore Urban
172
B. T. M. Layout
-
Bangalore Urban
173
Jayanagar
-
Bangalore Urban
175
Bommanahalli
-
Bangalore Urban
Members of Parliament
Mysore State
Bangalore South:
1952: T. Madiah Gowda, Indian National Congress
Bangalore:
1957: H.C. Dasappa, Indian National Congress
1962: H.C. Dasappa, Indian National Congress
1967: K. Hanumanthaiah, Indian National Congress
1971: K. Hanumanthaiah, Indian National Congress
Bangalore South Constituency
History of the constituency
Post independence Bangalore south constituency used to come under Mysore state. Mysore state was a state within the Union of India from 1947 until 1956. T. Madiah Gowda, freedom fighter, a lawyer by profession won in 1st lok sabha election from Bangalore south constituency. As a result of the States Reorganisation Act on 1 November 1956 few constituencies were added to Karnataka state and both Bangalore north and Bangalore south constituency were merged to make Bangalore constituency H.C Dasappa got elected from Bangalore constituency between 1957 to 1962. He also served as the Railway Minister of India under Jawaharlal Nehruin 1963-64. later former Chief MinisterKengal Hanumanthiah went on to win this constituency for three consecutive times. Post Emergency and reorganization of constituencies across the country, this Lok Sabha seat came into existence as Bangalore South in 1977. Since then this constituency has gone to the polls 12 times. BJP has won 8 times, Janata Party 3 times and Congress just once. BJP leader Ananth Kumar won 6 consecutive terms from this constituency. In 1977, K S Hegde went onto win this seat against former Chief Minister Kengal Hanumanthiah. He was a former judge of the Supreme Court who resigned in the mid 70's when he and 2 other judges were superseded in the Supreme Court, apparently for their past judgments against the government of the day. This was the only seat other than Hassan won by the Janata party in Karnataka. He went onto be the first non Congress Speaker of the Lok Sabha and was known for is disciplined and non-partisan tenure. In 1980, T. R. Shamanna, freedom fighter, an educationist, 4 time MLA before, and better known as Cycle Shamanna won the seat by Janata Party in that election. This was the only parliamentary seat won by Janata Party in Karnataka in that election. In this elections of 1980, Congress came back to power at the center with Indira Gandhi back at the helm. In 1984, V. S. Krishna Iyer won the elections. The elections were necessitated due to the murder of Indira Gandhi sitting Prime Minister. Rajiv Gandhi called for elections and Congress went onto win a landslide. V. S. Krishna Iyer, a Gandhian, Congressman who later joined Congress and then Janata. He was an ex Mayor of Bangalore and was responsible for sanctioning the Cauvery water supply scheme for Bangalore city. He was instrumental in founding of Yuvakasangha along with Gandhian V Annaiah in 1946 in Bangalore which popularized free tuition classes for 10th standard students apart from B.Com students. 1989 elections saw the Congress winning the seat for the first time with former Karnataka Chief Minister R. Gundu Rao winning the elections defeating V. S. Krishna Iyer. This is the only time that Congress has worn the elections in this constituency. 1991 elections were necessitated when the Chandra Shekhar led government fell and elections were called. BJP fielded noted economist K Venkatagiri Gowda. He defeated the incumbent MP R. Gundu Rao and thus BJP won the elections for the 1st time in Bangalore South. BJP won 4 seats in this elections from Karnataka. In 1996, BJP fielded an young candidate Ananth Kumar who went onto win the elections against Varalakshmi Gundu Rao, wife of R Gundu Rao. He went onto win 5 consecutive elections. Interestingly all his nearest opponents were different candidates but were all from Congress. Till the rise of Ananth Kumar the seat was won by legal luminaries, freedom fighters, Chief Minister and senior Economists. Ananth Kumar went onto become one of the most powerful and influential politicians from Karnataka. He went onto serve both the Vajpayee government and the Modi government in multiple capacities. He succumbed to cancer in 2018 during the course of the 16th Lok Sabha. In 2019, BJP was forced to field a new face due to the untimely death of sitting MP Ananth Kumar. Tejasvi Surya went onto win with over 3.3 lakh votes and become one of the youngest MPs at a age of 29, in the 17th Lok Sabha.
