Bangalore: There cannot possibly be a more prestigious byelection at the present juncture in Karnataka politics than the one expected to take place soon for the Chamundeshwari seat of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.

It could at best be described as a win or politically die battle for the former Deputy Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, who quit the seat after walking out of the Janata Dal (Secular), of which he was a founder-member.

The calendar of events for the byelection is yet to be notified by the Election Commission, but the war has already begun. While the Congress formally launched its campaign in Mysore on Sunday last, the Janata Dal (Secular) started the campaign much earlier with Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy virtually spending one day a week at Mysore for the past two months. The Congress too informally commenced the campaign nearly two months ago when All India congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi was in Bangalore to welcome Mr. Siddaramaiah into the party fold.

For Mr. Siddaramaiah, a victory in the byelection is a must since it would help him stand in good stead politically while a defeat would mean much harm to him than to the Congress.

The image of the Janata Dal (Secular) will take a severe beating in case Mr. Siddaramaiah is triumphant in the election. The party has to win the byelection not merely to keep Mr. Siddaramaiah under check but the Congress as well.

Mr. Siddaramaiah is confident of winning the byelection and the talk now is on the margin of victory. He has contested from the same constituency six times earlier and has won on four occasions, suffering a defeat in 1989 and 1999. While Mr. Siddaramaiah is well known among the people of the constituency and has campaigned on his own merit and commitment for the betterment of the people of the constituency, the Janata Dal (Secular) is now scouting for one to give a tough fight to Mr. Siddaramaiah .

His victory in the byelections is expected to be a cakewalk, unless the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Bharatiya Janata Party put their act together and give him a run for his votes.

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