Dr Jayaprakash Hegde To Regain The Lost Battle Ground For Congress In Udupi Chikamagalur

Jayaprakash Hegde has been nominated by the Congress party to run for the Udupi Chikamagalur seat in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Jayaprakash Hegde was a minister in the government of Karnataka and is considered a major force behind the creation of the Udupi district from undivided Mangalore and Udupi. Hegde had represented Udupi Chikmagalur in the parliament.

A lawyer by profession Jayaprakash Hegde has been elected to the state legislative assembly thrice. In 2015 Congress expelled Jayaprakash Hegde from the party for six years which caused the party heavily as no Congress candidate was selected from the constituency since he was removed. He joined the BJP later and refrained from criticising Congress.

The first time elections here were held in 2009 and DV Sadananda Gowda, former union minister and former BJP chief minister of Karnataka won from here. However, he had to resign as MP, and in 2012 by-elections Jayaprakash Hegde won.

In the last assembly elections in the constituency, 4 out of 8 assembly seats were won by BJP candidates and 4 by the INC candidates. Since 2014, a BJP candidate Shobha Karandlaje fetched the seat. The BJP candidate won the last general election by a heavy vote difference. She secured 62.46% votes in the constituency in 2019. She recently faced a Go Back campaign in the constituency. This year BJP has fielded Kota Srinivas Poojary for the elections here.

Udupi Chikamagalur is a general category parliament seat with a 75.3 percent literacy rate. It has SC, ST, and Muslim populations of 14.35%, 4.25% and 8.56% respectively.

The Malpe and Kaup beaches, Someshwara Wildlife Sanctuary, Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary, Kudremukh National Park and waterfalls, i Kudlu Tirtha and Jomlu Tirtha, mark the important features of the constituency.