Whoever wins in Sringeri, will win Karnataka: Just a belief or voters' ability to understand the trend?

Congress had first lost Sringeri assembly seat in Indira Gandhi's 'Emergency impact' resulted in Congress losing in the Sringeri segment for the first time

There is a belief among the political pundits and the voters of Sringeri that whoever wins this Assembly constituency segment will go on to rule Karnataka. Call it a coincidence or the Sringeri voters' ability to sense the trend, the party that won here since 1952 has formed the government, at least for a brief period, for 12 out of 14 times.

In the first-ever Assembly poll in Sringeri (which was called Teertahalli then), Kadidal Manjappa won the seat and he emerged victorious in 1957 as well and went on to become the 'pro-term' Chief Minister. Similarly, K.N. Veerappa Gowda won the Sringeri seat in 1967 and 1972 with Congress coming to power and Veerendra Patil and D. Devaraj Urs became the Chief Ministers of the State successively.

In 1978, Begane Ramaiah of the Congress won from Sringeri, when Urs and R. Gundu Rao became the Chief Minister. Congress' B. Ramaiah got elected from the seat in 1978 and Urs and Gundu Rao from the grand old party became CMs.

Indira Gandhi's 'Emergency impact' resulted in Congress losing in the Sringeri segment for the first time. H.G. Govinda Gowda emerged victorious in the seat in 1983 and Ramakrishna Hegde became the Chief Minister. Again in the mid-term polls, Govinda Gowda won the seat and Hegde and S.R. Bommai became the CMs.

Congress wrested the Sringeri seat from the Janata Party in 1989 as U.K. Shamanna emerged victorious and Congress came to power and had three Chief Ministers - Veerendra Patil, S. Bangarappa and Veerappa Moily.

Janata Party's candidate Govinda Gowda returned with a bang in 1994 and H.D. Deve Gowda and J.H. Patel became the Chief Ministers of the State. In fact, he was made the Primary Education minister. The Congress under the leadership of Krishna returned to power in 1999 and D.B. Chandre Gowda emerged victorious in the Sringeri seat.

The BJP, for the first time, won the Sringeri seat in 2004. Its candidate D.N. Jeevaraj emerged victorious, but unfortunately, Congress and JDS formed the coalition government. Thus the trend was broken. However, 20 months later, JDS under HD Kumaraswamy's leadership ditched Congress and joined hands with the BJP which formed the government.

In 2008, Jeevaraj won the seat as BJP's B.S. Yediyurappa became the Chief Minister of Karnataka. He was rewarded by the party making him a Minister in the Jagadish Shettar ministry and allotted the department of Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs, a post which he held till the Jagadish Shettar-led government lost power to the Congress in the 2013 Karnataka Assembly election.

However, the trend ended in 2013 as Congress under the leadership of Siddaramiah came to power despite losing Sringeri constituency. In 2018, Congress lost the elections but its candidate T.D. Rajegowda emerged victorious. The grand old party joined hands with JDS again. Siddaramiah served as the CM in 2018 to 2019 after his coalition government lost a no-trust motion in the 15th Assembly to the BJP.

"With Gods' grace and people's scrupulous judgment, the candidates are elected. Whoever wins from here will have his party's government in the State. Though it is just a belief, it has been proven true since 1952. It is mysterious," T.J. Raje Gowda, the current Sringeri MLA, had told the media before the elections were held in 2013.