BJP’s Six-Time MLA Vishweshwar Hedge Kageri To Contest In Uttara Kannada (image-facebook/Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri )

Vishweshwar Hedge Kageri is fielded as the saffron party candidate from Uttara Kannada. He has represented Uttara Kannada assembly segment for six terms. Uttara Kannada is among the 14 constituencies for polls in Karnataka under the second phase on May 7. 

Vishweshwar has served as the minister of Primary and Secondary education from 2008 to 2013 in the Government of Karnataka. He has also served as the 22nd Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from 2019 to 2023.

Regarding his educational qualification, Vishweshwar has completed his B.Com from Karnatak University, Dharwad. He was also an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) officer bearer during his college days and was an influential student union leader. After the delimitation, he contested from Uttara Kannada assembly constituency and served as  an MLA for six terms. During his tenure, he is praised as a very disciplined politician and legislator. However, he lost the seat to Congress during the 2023 Karnataka elections. 

Uttara Kannada constituency consists of 8 assembly segments and it has been a stronghold of the BJP for the past 27 years. In the 2019 election, Ananthkumar Hedge won the seat by a margin of 4.79 lakh votes. 

Aiming to wrest the seat, the Congress party has fielded Dr. Anjali Nimbalkar, a gynecologist, as their candidate. She is the spouse of a senior IPS officer in Karnataka.  

However, the saffron party has its internal dissent, reflecting in lack of support for MP Hedge and it is surfacing at different occasions. Recently, Arabail Shivaram Hebbar, an MLA representing the Yallapur segment, had openly supported the Congress candidate.