The Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) Assembly constituency in Kolar district has the distinction of sending the first ever Communist legislator to the Karnataka (then Mysore) Assembly.
Eminent trade unionist and Bharat Gold Mines workers’ leader K.S. Vasan became the first Communist MLA in the State in 1952. He represented the undivided Communist Party of India (CPI).
In retrospect
In the 1957 elections also, the CPI could get its candidate, veteran trade union leader M.C. Narasimhan elected to the Assembly. KGF became a reserved segment in 1962 and continued the tradition of electing Communists to the Assembly.
S. Rajgopal was elected from this segment in 1962. After the party split, neither the CPI nor the CPI(M) succeeded in the electoral battle in the KGF constituency for more than three decades. It was in 1985 that T.S. Mani of the CPI(M) got elected to the Assembly. That was the last time a Communist member got elected from this constituency.
