Bengaluru, 5 April  

A striking feature in the candidates list for the 26 April Lok Sabha elections is the presence of members of Janata Dal (Secular)'s first family. Former prime minister and JD(S) patriarch HD Deve Gowda's son HD Kumaraswamy, son-in-law CN Manjunath and grandson Prajwal Revanna are all in the fray.

While Kumararaswamy is contesting from Mandya, Prajwal Revanna is seeking re-election from Hassan. However, Manjunath, an eminent cardiologist, is contesting from Bengaluru Rural on a BJP ticket, as per the arrangement between the alliance partners.

Gowda is a Member of Rajya Sabha, while Kumaraswamy is an MLA from Channapatna, which comes under the Bengaluru Rural Lok Sabha constituency.

Kumaraswamy's wife Anitha had represented Ramanagara as MLA in the previous Assembly, and Nikhil, who is JD(S) youth wing leader, had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Mandya and 2023 Assembly polls from Ramanagara.

Gowda's elder son and former minister HD Revanna -- father of Prajwal -- is MLA from Holenarsipura, his wife Bhavani Revanna was a member of the Hassan Zilla Panchayat. Their other son, Suraj, is an MLC.

The Gowda family currently has its representation in all the four major houses of public representatives- Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council.

This will be for the second consecutive time in the Lok Sabha elections, when three members from Gowda's family are in the fray from constituencies of the old-Mysuru region (south Karnataka), which is considered to be the party's stronghold, because of the dominance of the Vokkaliga community here, to which they belong to.