The first assembly of Mysore (after Independence) in 1951 and the second assembly, elected in 1957 for united Karnataka, had many double-member constituencies.
This meant that a single constituency would return two members, one from the SC-ST category and another from the general category.
The 1951 Mysore assembly had 19 two-member constituencies. Two of the winning candidates were from the Scheduled Caste Federation (SCF), founded by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. There was one Independent and the rest were from the Congress. The SC candidate from SCF polled more votes than the general category candidate from Kolar Gold Fields. The number of two-member constituencies had gone up to 29 in 1957. In this election, two SC candidates were elected unopposed in Sedam and Karkala where voting took place only for the general candidates.
Also, two women SC candidates were elected from Hoskote and Kollegar for the double-member constituencies for the first time.
SC candidate Bhimanna, who was elected from the Raichur two-member constituency, had polled more votes than the general candidate from the same constituency.
The two-member constituency system was abolished in 1961.
