User:Vivvt/Afzalpur (Vidhan Sabha constituency)

Afzalpur is one of the electoral constituencies in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly and is in the Gulbarga district. , a total of 244 constituencies form the assembly in this south-Indian state of Karnataka. Since 1957, thirteen elections have been held in the constituency for electing the Member of Karnataka Legislative Assembly and only six different candidates have been elected. Annarao Basappa Ganamukhi won the first election of 1957 as uncontested. He again won in the following election of 1962, both times representing Indian National Congress (INC). M. Y. Patil has won twice; in 1978 as Janata Party (JP) representative and in 2004 as Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)) representative. N. S. Patil (1967, INC), Digambarrao Balwantrao (1972, INC), and Hanmanthrao Desai (1983, JP) have each won once. In the 2004 assembly elections, Indira Shakti, who represented Bharatiya Janata Party, became the first woman to contest elections in this constituency. She eventually lost at third position securing only 7641 votes. The current member Malikayya Venkayya Guttedar has won six times in 1985, 1989, 1994, 1999, 2008, and 2013 having represented INC, Karnataka Congress Party (KCP), and JD(S). Guttedar was a minister in the Jayadevappa Halappa Patel led government.

Caste politics plays important role in this constituency. The constituency has a majority of Lingayats with around 40 percent of the population. The backward classes of Kurubas and Kabbaligas together form around 30 percent. Dalits and Muslims are also in a considerable size in the demographics. The constituency is also notorious for "supari killings" (contract killing) and the political gang wars in the area have been inspiration for the plot of the Kannada film Bheema Theeradalli (2012).