Samarth Shamanur. | Photo credit: File photo
A sitting minister, an MP and now a third-generation member trying to retain the seat represented by his grandfather – that sums up the political influence the Shamanur family wields in the town of Davangere, once known as the ‘Manchester of Karnataka’ due to the presence of its many cotton mills.
As the Davangere South Assembly by-election campaign gathers momentum, questions are being raised about the Shamanur family’s decades-long control over the constituency and whether it will be able to maintain its influence in the absence of the “grand old man”, Shamanur Shivashankarappa, whose death has prompted the election.
Election of local authority
It was in 1969 that Shivashankarappa became active in the Congress. He won the Davangere municipal council election and subsequently became the president for the next few years. After a long stint as the Treasurer of the State Cognress Committee, Shivashankarappa entered the Assembly for the first time in 1994 from the Davangere Assembly constituency. When he successfully contested the 1998 parliamentary elections, his son SS Mallikarjun took over and defended the seat in a by-election and then retained it in 1999. Shivashankarappa contested against him and won it in 2004.
Due to delimitation in 2008, the Davangere Assembly segment lost its existence and was divided into Davangere North and South Assembly constituencies. Since then, the Davangere South Assembly constituency has been with the family and Shivashankarappa won it successively in 2008, 2013, 2018 and 2023. He went on to become a minister. The constituency has been under the control of the Shamanur family for the past three decades, with the father winning six times and the son twice.
After the delimitation, the family was also able to win the second Assembly constituency (Davangere North) twice. The victory of Prabha Mallikarjun, daughter-in-law of Shivashankarappa and wife of Mr. Mallikarjun, in the 2024 parliamentary elections indicates the growing political influence of the family in the region.
Political analysts are of the view that the empire built by Shivashankarappa, particularly through educational institutions and industries through which various philanthropic activities are initiated, and his influence over Lingayat voters as president of the Akhil Bharat Veerashaiva Lingayat Mahasabha (the representative body of the Lingayat community) have together had a significant electoral impact. While heading the Mahasabha, Shivashankarappa had influence over members of the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community across the state in general and particularly in his constituency where Lingayats are in significant numbers.
The minority factor
Importantly, the family’s bonhomie with minorities is one of the major factors contributing to the family’s successive victories. Before every election, however, there were voices demanding representation against Muslims.
But every time the Shamanur family has managed to win over the minorities before the elections and it seems they have succeeded this time too. Since minorities are the deciding factor in the by-election, BJP leaders are apparently trying to convince them that the election of Samarth Shamanur (a Congress candidate) would mean no representation for Muslims for the next five decades. Whether it will work is a moot point.
Published – 31 March 2026 21:12 IST
