Bhatkal Assembly constituency

Bhatkal
Constituency No. 79 for the Karnataka Legislative Assembly
Constituency details
Country	India
Region	South India
State	Karnataka
District	Uttara Kannada
Lok Sabha constituency	Uttara Kannada
Established	1966
Total electors	222,794 [1]
Reservation	None
Member of Legislative Assembly
16th Karnataka Legislative Assembly
Incumbent M. S. Vaidya
Party	Indian National Congress
Elected year	2023
Preceded by	Sunil Biliya Naik

Bhatkal Assembly constituency is one of the 224 Legislative Assembly constituencies of Karnataka in India. ^[2] It is part of Uttara Kannada district.

The constituency is infamous for Communal tensions due to notable presence of Hindutva groups and Islamic fundamentalism. ^{[3] [4]}

In April 10, 1996 a sitting Member of the Legislative Assembly from this constituency was assassinated by gunfire. ^{[5] [6]}

Electorate

The constituency has around 2.15 lakhs votes. Nearly 1.6 lakh voters i.e. more than 70% of vote base are Hindus, followed by Muslims at nearly 55,000 who are 25.4% and Christians at 7300 forming 3.4% of the electorate. Among Hindu vote base the single major group is Namdharis constituting about 70,000 votes. ^[7] The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes forms 10.1% of the electorate with nearly 22,000 votes.

Members of the Legislative Assembly

Mysore State

Year	Member	Party
Before 1966: Constituency did not exist. See Honnavar
1967	J. M. Manjunath		Praja Socialist Party
1972	S. M. Yahya Siddika Umar		Indian National Congress

Karnataka

Year [8]	Member	Party
1978	Siddiq Mohamed Yahya Bin Umer		Indian National Congress (Indira)
1983	Rama Narayan Naik		Janata Party
1985
1989			Indian National Congress
1994	Dr. U. Chittaranjan		Bharatiya Janata Party
1996^	Shivanand Naik
1999	J. D. Naik		Indian National Congress
2004	Shivanand Naik		Bharatiya Janata Party
2008	J. D. Naik		Indian National Congress
2013	M. S. Vaidya		Independent politician
2018	Sunil Biliya Naik		Bharatiya Janata Party
2023	M. S. Vaidya		Indian National Congress

^by-election

Election results

2023

2023 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election: Bhatkal ^{[1] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	INC	M. S. Vaidya	100,442	57.45	+10.89
	BJP	Sunil Biliya Naik	67,771	38.76	−11.38
	NOTA	None of the Above	1,223	0.7	−0.50
Majority			32,671	18.69	+15.11
Turnout			174,848	78.48	+1.23
	INC gain from BJP		Swing

2018

Karnataka Legislative Assembly Election, 2018: Bhatkal ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	BJP	Sunil Biliya Naik	83,172	50.14
	INC	M. S. Vaidya	77,242	46.56
	NOTA	None of the Above	1,986	1.20
Majority			5,930	3.58
Turnout			1,65,886	77.25
	BJP gain from Independent		Swing

See also

• List of constituencies of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly
• Uttara Kannada district

References

1. "Karnataka Legislative Assembly Election - 2023". eci.gov.in. Election Commission of India . Retrieved 24 July 2023.
2. "Karnataka Loksabha Elections - 2019 - Voters Count" (PDF). ceokarnataka.kar.nic.in. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
3. "From communal harmony to terror infamy: How Bhatkal became a constant on intel agencies' radar". Hindustan Times. 19 September 2021. Archived from the original on 14 August 2024. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
4. "Offensive charm". Telegraph .
5. Dev, Arun (10 March 2018). "The Forgotten Political Murder That Changed Bhatkal's Fate Forever". TheQuint. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
6. Nanjappa, Vicky. "How placid Bhatkal turned into a communal hotspot". Rediff. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
7. "Karnataka polls: In 'terror-tainted' Bhatkal, Hindu-Muslim divide polarises voters as well as decides candidates". Firstpost. 6 May 2018. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
8. "Bhatkal Election and Results 2018, Candidate list, Winner, Runner-up, Current MLA and Previous MLAs". Elections in India. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
9. "Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023: Bhatkal". Election Commission of India. 13 May 2023. Archived from the original on 26 April 2025. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
10. "Karnataka Legislative Assembly Election - 2018". Election Commission of India. Retrieved 4 February 2021.

14°00′N74°32′E / 14°N 74.54°E / 14; 74.54