The bypolls were necessitated due to the demise of Congress veterans H Y Meti (Bagalkot) on November 04 and Shamanur Shivashankarappa (December 14).

Shivashankarappa was a Lingayat strongman and the president of the All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha at the time of his demise, while Meti hailed from the Kuruba community and was a loyalist of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

While Umesh is Meti's son, Samarth is Shamanur's grandson and Mining Minister S S Mallikarjun's son.

Though it was a foregone conclusion that either Umesh or his brother Mallikarjun would get the seat, there was intense competition within the Congress on whether the Davanagere South seat should go to Shamanur's family or someone from the Muslim community, which has substantial numbers in the area.

According to estimates, the Muslims are the largest group in the constituency, and have numbers exceeding 70,000.

Though Muslims have a population of 12.92 per cent in Karnataka as per the 2011 Census (16 per cent and the second largest group in the state after Scheduled Castes, as per the leaked statistics of the 2015 social and educational survey), there are merely 10 Muslim legislators in the state which has 224 Assembly seats (4.46 per cent). All 10 are from the Congress.

Samarth will take on Srinivasa T Dasakariappa of the BJP, who hails from the Scheduled Tribe community.

Bagalkot will also witness a dominant community vs Ahinda (Kannada acronym for minorities, OBCs, SCs and STs), where Umesh faces off against BJP's Veerabhadrayya (Veeranna) Charanthimath of the Jangama Lingayat community.

Charanthimath and Meti shared a longtime rivarly in the constituency, which witnessed several close contests over the years. While Meti defeated Charantimath in the 2013 and 2023 polls, the BJP leader had also edged Meti in 2008 and 2018 to become an MLA.

March 23 (Monday) is the last day to file nominations. The polling is due on April 09 and results are slated for May 04.