Karnataka elections: Gauribidanur Assembly constituency

Gauribidanur is an assembly constituency in Kolar district. The town houses a radio telescope observatory operated jointly by Raman Research Institute and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics. The observatory has been in operation since 1976. The Observatory has been used for studying various aspects of the Sun, galaxies and pulsars.

Gauribidanur is a historical town whose name could have been derived from the terms ghori (grave) and bidanur or Gowri (a Hindu goddess) and Bidanur. It has been said that Tipu Sultan had some of his soldiers buried here. Vidurashwatha an important pilgrim centre which is 6 km from Gauribidanur.

Formerly sugarcane and paddy were the main crops of this taluk. In recent times, silkworm rearing, groundnuts, maize and sunflower are the main crops owing to the lack of groundwater and rainfall. There still is a dormant sugar factory which was set up as a co-operative unit. Uttara Pinakini river has water flow only during the rainy season. If the rain falls are scarce, the river bed is dry.

Gauribidanur has several scientific facilities nearby. BARC and TIFR have set up research labs here owing to its suitability in geography and soil contents. BARC hosts several highly sensitive seismometers that can record the minutest disturbances in the Earth's crust across the globe. TIFR has a centre for research on gravitational fields. Due to unregulated sand mining, the bed of Pinakini River in the vicinity of the town has been denuded of all sand.

N H Shnashankara Reddy from the Congress is the current legislator, he defeated K Jaipala Reddy, an independent candidate.

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