Samyukta S Patil To Face A Four Time MP In Bagalkot, Karantaka

Indian National Congress has been accused of promoting dynastic politics as it gives tickets to ministers’ children for the upcoming 18^th Lok Sabha election. Samyukta Patil from Bagalkot is one such candidate. Samyukta S Patil who is a lawyer by profession is the daughter of six-time MLA and Minister Shivanand Patil. However, Congress party members defended the decision to give tickets to 5 ministers’ children.

Patil is facing opposition not only from rival parties but even from within the party people are unhappy with her nomination. Veena Kashappanavar the vice-president of the Mahila Congress State unit has threatened to resign from her party position and announce fighting an independent candidate.

Patil has started her political campaign targeting the BJP government by accusing it of neglecting poor and farmers but enriching corporates. She made the plight of farmers and common people the highlights of her political campaigning. She had also been the director of District Central Cooperative Bank Ltd, which works for the interest of farmers rural women etc.

This year the Bagalkot Lok Sabha seat elections which is supposed to be held on May 7, 2024, are going to be intriguing as Samyukta Patil is the party’s fresh face whereas BJP candidate PC Gaddigoudar is contesting election for the fifth time. As per Patil, she started her political campaign on two major issues: five guarantees of the Congress and the development of Bagalkot.

Among the 8 assembly segments in the constituency 5 are occupied by the INC and the Congress party is in power in the state currently. However, since 2004 BJP candidate Gaddigoudar P Chandangouda has been winning elections here consecutively. In the last general elections, he secured 55.17 percent votes whereas INC secured a total of 41.21 percent votes.

Bagalkot is one of the 28 seats of Lok Sabha in Karnataka and is a general category parliament seat. The literacy rate is 59.78 percent which is far below the national average here. Here the SC, ST, and Muslim populations are 16.85%, 5.19%, and 11.88% respectively.

The constituency is known for its rich culture and heritage. The economy of the constituency is primarily based on agriculture with major crops including Sugarcane, cotton, and groundnut. However, a significant development is observed in industries and infrastructure projects.