Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Shobha Karandlaje of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won in the Karnatakas Bangalore North constituency with a margin of 2,59,476 votes defeating Professor MV Rajeev Gowda of the Congress party. Bengaluru encompasses four constituencies in the Lok Sabha: Bengaluru Rural, Bengaluru Central, Bengaluru North, and Bengaluru South. Initially, from 1957 to 1962, Bengaluru North was part of the Bengaluru city seat. Keshav Lingar of the Congress Party won the first election held for this seat in 1951. Subsequently, for 45 years until 1996, the Congress Party dominated this seat. The monopoly ended in 1996 when C Narayanasamy of the Janata Dal emerged victorious. Since then, the BJP has seen success in this constituency. Out of the 17 elections conducted for the Bengaluru North seat, the Congress party has secured victory 12 times.Key issues in the Bengaluru North ConstituencyGuarantee Failure: Congresss five guarantees are yet to benefit many residents in North Bangalore, according to reports.Candidate Accessibility: Despite being local, Congresss Gowda remains inaccessible to voters, leading to disillusionment.Traffic Congestion: Hebbal main road and airport road areas suffer from severe traffic congestion and accidents. Poor public transport and lack of foot-over bridges, especially in KR Puram, are major concerns.Water Issues: Groundwater extraction exceeds recharge rates, causing water shortages. People have expressed dissatisfaction with water availability and tanker management, blaming tanker mafias and government inefficiencies.Garbage Dumping: Poor sanitation and garbage dumping, particularly in Frazer Town and Pulakeshinagar, remain major issues.Polluted Lakes: Pollution and encroachment plague lakes like Sankey Tank and Byatarayanapuras lakes. Concerns about unnecessary construction affecting lake ecosystems are prominent.Unplanned Development: Rapid growth has led to sanitation, water supply, drainage, housing, and waste management problems. Peenya Industrial Area faces severe pollution issues, and Mahalakshmi Layout suffers from water shortages and flooding.Neglecting Karnataka: Complaints about insufficient central funds and the ineffective GST rollout persist. Residents feel the lack of Union government schemes despite high tax contributions.Unemployment: Congress frequently highlights youth unemployment (17.24%), criticizing PM Modis job promises, though youth voters largely support Modis developmental pace.Cast equationsThe Bengaluru North Lok Sabha constituency has a Scheduled Caste (SC) population of 338,960, making up 11.9% of the total population. The Scheduled Tribe (ST) population is 62,665, accounting for 2.5% of the total population.The constituencys majority comprises 83% of the total population, with Muslims representing 13.3% and Christians making up 2.5% of the population.Who won in 2019In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Sadanand Gowda of the BJP secured victory and gained 8,24,500 votes. In the same contest, Krishna Byre Gowda of the Congress emerged as the runner-up with 6,76,982 votes, followed by NOTA in third place.History of Bengaluru North Lok SabhaIn the last four elections, the BJP has maintained consecutive wins. The seat was also once claimed by the Janata Dal. Notably, senior Congress leader and former Union Minister CK Jaffer Sharif has been elected as an MP from this seat seven times, including five consecutive victories from 1977 to 1996. The Bengaluru North Lok Sabha constituency holds major importance in Karnataka, being the largest seat in the state and the third-largest in the country.
