Virajpet Assembly constituency

Virajpet Assembly constituency is one of the 224 Karnataka Legislative Assembly constituencies of Karnataka and is one among the two assembly constituencies in Kodagu district.

Virajpet
Constituency No. 209 for the Karnataka Legislative Assembly
Constituency details
Country	India
Region	South India
State	Karnataka
District	Kodagu
Lok Sabha constituency	Mysore
Established	1956
Total electors	224,936 (2023)[1]
Reservation	None
Member of Legislative Assembly
16th Karnataka Legislative Assembly
Incumbent A. S. Ponnanna
Party	Indian National Congress
Elected year	2023
Preceded by	K. G. Bopaiah

It is represented in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly by A. S. Ponnanna of the Indian National Congress.^[2]

Virajpet Assembly constituency is a part of Mysore Lok Sabha constituency. From 1956 to 2008, it was a part of the erstwhile Mangalore Lok Sabha constituency and was merged with the Mysore Lok Sabha constituency in 2008 by the Delimitation Commission.^[3] Virajpet was part of the erstwhile Coorg State until 1956, when under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, it became a part of Mysore State (now Karnataka).

Electorate

The constituency has 2.1 lakh voters and has more male voters than female voters drawing a stark contrast from Madikeri Assembly constituency.^[4] It also has more Kodava voters than Gowdas.The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes comprises 26.8% of the vote base with ST's outnumbering SC's. The electorate is predominantly Hindus with Muslims and Christians forming less than 16% of the vote base.^[5] The constituency is more rural than Madikeri with less than 10% urban voters.

Members of Legislative Assembly

Source^[6]

Year	Member	Party
Before 1956: Constituency did not exist
1957	C. M. Poonacha		Indian National Congress
1962	A. P. Appanna
1967	N. Lokayya Nayak		Bharatiya Jana Sangh
1972	G. K. Subbaiah		Indian National Congress

Karnataka

Year	Member	Party
1978	G. K. Subbaiah		Indian National Congress (Indira)
1983			Indian National Congress
1985	Suma Vasanth
1989
1994	H. D. Basavaraju		Bharatiya Janata Party
1999	Suma Vasanth		Indian National Congress
2004	H. D. Basavaraju		Bharatiya Janata Party
2008	K. G. Bopaiah
2013
2018
2023	A. S. Ponnanna		Indian National Congress

Election results

2023

2023 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election: Virajpet^[7][8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	INC	A. S. Ponnanna	84,879	49.94	+9.00
	BJP	K. G. Bopaiah	80,466	47.38	–2.02
	NOTA	None of the Above	1,630	0.98	–0.12
Margin of victory			4,291	2.56	−5.90
Turnout			1,67,778	74.59	+2.04
	INC hold		Swing

2018

2018 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election: Virajpet

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	BJP	K. G. Bopaiah	77,944	49.40
	INC	C. S. Arun Machaiah	64,591	40.94
	JD(S)	M. Sanketh Poovaiah	11,224	7.11
	NOTA	None of the Above	1,733	1.10
Margin of victory			13,353	8.46
Turnout			1,57,772	72.55
	BJP hold		Swing

2013

2013 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election: Virajpet^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	BJP	K. G. Bopaiah	67,250	47.23
	INC	B. T. Pradeep	63,836	44.84
	JD(S)	Dambekodi Madappa	5,880	4.13
Margin of victory			3,414	2.39
Turnout			1,42,377	70.74
	BJP hold		Swing

2008

2008 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election: Virajpet^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	BJP	K. G. Bopaiah	48,605	41.78
	INC	Veena Achaiah	33,532	28.82
	JD(S)	C. S. Arun Machaiah	29,920	25.72
	SP	Achapanda Giri Uthappa	2464	2.12
	BSP	Kunhi Abdulla K. M.	1825	1.57
Margin of victory			15,073	12.96
Turnout			1,16,346	60.6
	BJP hold		Swing

2004

2004 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election: Virajpet^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	BJP	H. D. Basavaraju	35,550	51.48
	INC	Suma Vasanth	27,484	39.80
	JD(S)	Mutha P. S.	6,023	8.72
Margin of victory			8,066	11.68
Turnout			69,057	58.68
	Swing to BJP from INC		Swing

1999

1999 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election: Virajpet^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	INC	Suma Vasanth	29,136	48.96
	BJP	H. D. Basavaraju	24,867	41.79
	JD(S)	K. B. Shanthappa	4,271	7.18
Margin of victory			4,269	7.17
Turnout			62,122	61.03
	Swing to INC from BJP		Swing

1994

1994 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election: Virajpet^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	BJP	H. D. Basavaraju	21,790	35.87
	INC	Suma Vasanth	20,009	32.93
	JD	K. B. Shanthappa	16,693	27.48
Margin of victory			1,781	2.94
Turnout			62,057	60.07
	Swing to BJP from INC		Swing

1989

1989 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election: Virajpet^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	INC	Suma Vasanth	32,124	53.62
	JD	G. S. Pushkara	16,872	28.16
	BJP	P. P. Choma	6,416	10.71
Margin of victory			15,252	25.46
Turnout			63,398	58.87
	INC hold		Swing

1985

1985 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election: Virajpet^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	INC	Suma Vasanth	26,716	54.90
	JP	H. D. Rajan	18,496	38.01
	BJP	M. E. Appanna Rao	3,449	7.09
Margin of victory			8,220	16.89
Turnout			49,290	56.28
	INC hold		Swing

1983

1983 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election: Virajpet^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	INC	G. K. Subbaiah	22,581	54.38
	BJP	Paniyaravara P. Choma	14,009	33.73
	Independent	H. T. Devaraj	4,938	11.89
Margin of victory			8,572	20.65
Turnout			42,428	53.65
	INC hold		Swing

1978

1978 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election: Virajpet^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	INC(I)	G. K. Subbaiah	25,309	48.48
	JP	Paniyaravara P. Choma	23,040	44.13
	Independent	N. Lokayya Naik	2,258	4.33
Margin of victory			2,269	4.35
Turnout			53,438	70.06
	INC(I) hold		Swing

1972

1972 Mysore Legislative Assembly election: Virajpet^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	INC	G. K. Subbaiah	20,023	63.71
	ABJS	N. Lokayya Naik	10,866	34.58
	Independent	M. K. Narayana	537	1.71
Margin of victory			9,157	29.13
Turnout			32,253	50.24
	Swing to INC from ABJS		Swing

1967

1967 Mysore Legislative Assembly election: Virajpet^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	ABJS	N. Lokayya Nayak	14,444	52.39
	INC	A. N. Belli	13,138	47.61
Margin of victory			1,316	4.78
Turnout			29,328	60.64
	Swing to ABJS from INC		Swing

1962

1962 Mysore Legislative Assembly election: Virajpet^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	INC	A. P. Appanna	15,292	50.55
	Independent	C. B. Muthanna	6,973	23.05
	CPI	I. R. Asranna	3,658	12.09
Margin of victory			8,319	27.50
Turnout			32,100	59.60
	INC hold		Swing

1957

1957 Mysore Legislative Assembly election: Virajpet^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	INC	C. M. Poonacha	18,223	54.85
	PSP	Kolera Karumbaiah	15,002	45.15
Margin of victory			3,221	9.70
Turnout			33,225	71.30
	INC hold		Swing