Karnataka elections 2018: Siddaramaiah wins Badami constituency

Incumbent chief minister Siddaramaiah wins from Badami constituency, as per media reports.

What made this constituency a safe seat for Siddaramaiah is the number of Kuruba voters in this constituency. Siddaramaiah himself belongs to the Kuruba community. The constituency also has a significant presence of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes Muslims and other backward castes - the bedrock of Siddaramaiah's support base.

For the Kuruba community, Siddaramaiah is a favourite. They have not had a mass leader from their community for a long time. They would like to re-elect the Congress so that he becomes the CM again. Moreover analysts are of the view that Siddaramaiah could have a sway over the voters in the Mumbai-Karnataka region, if he contests from Badami.

In Badami there are around 45,000 Kurubas. The next biggest community are the Lingayats with a population of 38,000. There are 36,000 SC/STs while the Muslims account for 18,000.

Playing it safe, the Congress party allocated a second constituency to chief minister Siddaramaiah Badami in Bagalkot district. The incumbent chief minister gave up the Varuna constituency for his son Yathindra and is now contesting from Badami and Chamundeshwari.

In 2013 Karnataka Assembly elections, Bhimappa defeated Janata Dal (Secular)'s Mahantesh Gurupadappa Mamadapur by 15,113 votes.