Tumkur parliamentary constituency has not been a stronghold of any political party or leader for long. The electorate here have given their mandate to different political parties in successive elections.
If the Congress was strong earlier, the Bharatiya Janata Party has had an upper hand in recent elections. Though the Janata Dal (Secular) too has a strong base here, it only won a Lok Sabha seat once, in 1996.
The constituency is a dryland region spread across 6,706 sq. km, and agriculture is completely dependent on rainfall.
It comprises eight Assembly segments. Of them, JD(S) MLAs represent Gubbi, Koratagere, Turuvekere and Chikkanayakanahalli constituencies; the Congress in Tumkur city, Madhugiri and Tiptur constituencies; and the BJP in Tumkur Rural constituency.
Since 1952, Tumkur Lok Sabha constituency has seen 16 general elections and one byelection. From 1952 to 1989, the Congress won eight times. The Praja Socialist Party won once in 1967 and the Congress in the byelection held in 1962.
In 1991, S. Mallikarjunaiah from the BJP won, and in 1996, C.N. Bhaskarappa from the Janata Dal won. In 1998 and 2004 once again, Mr. Mallikarjunaiah from the BJP won and G.S. Basavaraj won on Congress ticket in 1999, and on BJP ticket in 2009. The history of the constituency indicates that the Congress had a commanding presence from 1952 to 1989 before the BJP took charge.
IssuesDrought, scarcity of drinking water, unemployment, pending railway projects, man-animal conflict, migration of people from villages to cities in search of jobs, coconut growers’ issues, iron ore mining and extraction of sand are the main problems here.
There are environmental issues in Chikkanayakanahalli taluk owing to rampant iron ore mining, which has destroyed roads and trees, and decreased the groundwater table. Sand mining in Madhugiri and Koratagere taluks has resulted in the drying up of two rivers Swarnamukhi and Jayamangali.People suffer from fluorosis due to the high flouride content in the drinking
water..
For the coming LS polls, Mr. Basavaraj from the BJP, S.P. Muddahanumegowda from the Congress and JD(S) State president A. Krishnappa are in the fray.
