Karnataka elections: Kolar Assembly constituency

Known as the Little England, the little mining town which produced sizable amount of gold: about 30 kms from Kolar, the pride of The Erstwhile Mysore state and India. This place was known for gold mining for over a century, which was eventually closed in 2001 due to low level of gold production. It includes the township of the same name KGF, where reside mainly the families of the employees of Bharat Gold Mines Limited (BGML) and BEML (formerly Bharat Earth Movers Limited).

An English mining firm, John Taylor & Sons in 1880, started the systematic mining for gold. The first hydroelectric project in South India was built in 1902 to provide electricity for the gold fields.

The Champion reef at the Kolar gold fields was mined to a depth of 50 meters during the Gupta period in the fifth century A.D. Subsequently, the metal continued to be mined during the Chola period in the 9th and 10th century AD, the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565, and later by Tipu Sultan, the leader of Mysore state. The scale of the operations grew at each stage by the digging of small to large pits.

The Kotilingeshwara Temple at Kammasandra is a huge tourist attraction for people from all over South India. Its massive Shivling and accompanying Nandi Bull, along with numerous smaller Shivlings, are much revered by locals and are something of a phenomenon for outsiders.

The current MLA is Ramakka Y who is from BJP party. She defeated M. Backthavachalam from JDS.

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