Congress candidate from Yelendur Kasaba ZP, Kethamma, managed to snatch the seat from a BJP candidate, her nearest rival, with a narrow margin of 59 votes. She became the first woman from the Soliga tribe to win a ZP constituency. Kethamma was the Yelendur taluk panchayat president.
Kethamma’s victory in the reserved constituency has brought cheer to the tribal community. Moreover, her success has thrown detractors off as the constituency does not have a large
Soliga population.
Soligas, who number 40,000 in the district, have poor political representation. The political parties followed the usual caste formula while issuing tickets and both the Congress and the BJP had fielded Soliga candidates. Mahadevi, a Congress candidate won from Punajanur while Rajamma has been elected from P G Palya, both for taluk panchayat.