Shamshad Begum, awaiting the election

Shamshad Begum is contesting independently after being rejected by BJP.

By Arghyadeep Dutta

Shamshad Begum, who has supported Congress for the last 35 years, has changed her mind to compete in the Karnataka by-poll elections for MLA, being held on December 5. Now, She is contesting as an independent candidate from Shivajinagar constituency.

“Since the past 35 years, neither any corporator nor any Member of Parliament (MP) had worked for the benefit of people, after voting gets over. This makes me feel bad for my community, my people. Hence, I decided to stand for their rights,” she said.

In the by-poll elections scheduled on December 5, 15 seats of Karnataka assembly will be contested by 165 candidates, including only nine women. In Bengaluru, four constituencies—K.R. Puram, Yeshwanthpur, Mahalakshmi Layout and Shivajinagar will observe elections.

Among all the 15 seats, Shivajinagar has the highest number of candidates—19. In Shivajinagar, two EVMs will be used for the procedure, as one machine has slots for 15 names but contestants are 19.

Shamshad Begumbelieves that the candidates of national parties either want notes or votes. Being an independent candidate, her main aim is to win the hearts of the voters.

R. Roshan Baig, former Home Minister of Karnataka, who was suspended from the Indian National Congress, had been elected five times from Shivajinagar Vidhan Sabha Constituency.

 Except for Baig, all the 17 disqualified Congress and JD(S) MLAs have been invited by BJP to join. “It will be a tight contest as Baig is also contesting independently and he has an advantage of Hindu voters, so BJP will also try to take a piece of the cake from his vote bank. Nevertheless, whoever wins, I will support my Muslim community and vote bank till the last breath. I have been pressurised by other political parties to take back the nomination already, but I will continue to fight,” she added.