Karnataka elections: Bhatkal Assembly constituency

Bhatakal is a port town in Uttara Kannada district. The town of Bhatkal lies on NH-66 running between Mumbai and Kochi and is one of the major railway stations along the Konkan Railway line running between Mumbai and Mangaluru.

Bhatkal, also known as 'Batecala' in some historical Portuguese texts, is a port town in the district.

In its early days, Bhatkal belonged to followers of the Jain and Hindu religions and later acquired more religions and cultures. Bhatkal gets its name from the Jain Grammarian Bhattakalanka, who hailed from Haduvalli village. It is a town located on the shores of the Arabian Sea, with Sharavathi river few miles to its north.

Chola emperors under Aditya I, his son Parantaka I and successor Sundara Chola, also known as Parantaka Chola II, initially invaded and conquered territories country between Gangavadi on the Mysore plateau and Bhatkal on the Sahyadri coast between 880 and 975 AD. As a sign of their victory country, they built the Solesvara Temple in commemoration of their conquest. Inscriptions there from successive kings, from Parantaka Chola I to Kulothunga Chola III, refer to their generals as 'Lords of the Konkana' and include inscriptions paying obeisance to Lord Solesvarar of Konkana.

Bhatkal from a quiet coastal town in Karnataka has now turned into a terror factory after Mohammed Ahmed Zarar Siddibapa started gaining notoriety as dreaded Indian Mujahideen terrorist Yasin Bhatkal. Other IM top guns, brothers Riyaz and Iqbal Shabantri, also became branded as Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal.

Mankala Subba Vaidya of Congress won against Enayathullah Shabandri of JD(S) with a margin of 9,884.

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