Battle for Karnataka: Top 10 constituencies to watch today

Chamundeshwari, Mysuru: One of two constituencies from which Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of the Congress is contesting. His main contender is G.T. Devegowda of the JD(S), who won the seat in the 2013 Assembly election.

Badami, Bagalkot: The second constituency from where Siddaramaiah is contesting. His main contender is B. Sriramulu of the BJP.

Molakalmuru, Chitradurga: Second seat from which BJP’s Sriramulu is contesting.

Varuna, Mysuru: Represented by Siddaramaiah till he decided to vacate it for his son Dr Yatindra, who will be making his poll debut.

Shikaripura, Shimoga: Shikaripura, stronghold of BJP’s contender B.S. Yeddyurappa. Since 1983, Yeddyurappa has won all elections in Shikaripura, barring one.

Ramanagaram: Pocket borough JD(S) chief’s H.D. Devegowda’s clan. His son, former chief minister and incumbent H.D. Kumaraswamy is contesting from here.

Channapatna,  Ramanagaram: One of the two constituencies from where Kumaraswamy is contesting. His wife fought the election from this seat in 2013 and lost.

Dharwad: Congress minister Vinay Kulkarni key figure in the Lingayat separate religion agitation, won the 2013 election, is up against Amrut Ayyappa Desai of BJP.

Vijayanagara (Bellary): This seat is interesting – a tainted mining baron, Anand Singh, had won it for the BJP in 2008 and 2013. This time, Singh is contesting on a Congress ticket and his main rival is H.R.Gaviyappa, an ex-Congressman, who switched over to the BJP.

Koratagere, Tumkuru: State Congress chief and former minister G. Parameshwara is contesting. In 2013, Parameshwara had lost from the constituency to incumbent MLA Sudhakara Lal P.R. of the JD(S).

Kanakapura, Ramanagaram: Senior Congress minister D.K. Shivakumar won this in the last two elections (2008 and 2013) and is contesting for the third time.

Babaleshwar, Vijayapura: Congress leader M.B. Patil, who is a minister in the state government, is fighting from here against Vijugouda Patil from BJP. He won it in 2008 and 2013.

Melukote: Darshan Puttannaiah, a techie is being supported by the Congress.