The Congress candidate H T Sangliana, who recently quit the BJP and joined the Congress after the vote on N-deal in the Parliament last year, is facing tough battle from BJP's P C Mohan and JD (S)' Zameer Ahmed. While Mr. Mohan lost the last assembly elections, Mr. Ahmed is sitting member of the Assembly.
Mr. Sangliana trounced Congress warhorse C K Jaffer Sharief to win Bangalore North seat as a BJP candidate in 2004.
Interestingly, Mr Sangliana has upstaged Mr Sharief in securing Congress ticket to contest from the newly formed Bangalore Central.
A giant killer then, defeating the former union minister Mr Sharief, Mr Sangliana, a former Bangalore Police Commissioner, is now donning a new hat as a Congress candidate.
Former Chief Minister S. M. Krishna and other Congress candidates had intensively campaigned for Mr Sangliana in the last couple of days.
After the volte-face on N-deal, Congress President Sonia Gandhi rewarded him overlooking the party's long-time loyal leader Sharief's demand to contest from Bangalore Central.
Mr Sharief has instead been given a ticket from Bangalore North and he has locked with BJP' D.B. Chandre Gowda, who recently quit the Congress and joined the BJP.
Shedding of his saffron tag, Mr Sangliana is now banking on his image of the no-nonsense "supercop" and the work done by him as an MP from Bangalore North to win against Mr Mohan and Mr Zameer Ahmed.
Mr Sangliana, a native of Mizoram, has made Bangalore his home after he hung up his boots at the end of 36-year police career. He is under Z security, following alleged harassment from BJP cadres for his vote for the UPA.
The Congress candidate has strongly condemned the attack on churches and blamed the VHP and Bajrang Dal forces for attack on women in Mangalore pub.
The Bangalore Central constituency has about 13 lakh Hindu voters, three lakh Muslims and 2.5 lakh Christians.
A minority leader close to JD(S) state unit head H D Kumaraswamy, Zameer is a sitting MLA from Chamarajpet. He won from the constituency after former Chief Minister S M Krishna quit the seat to move to Maharashtra as its Governor, a post he relinquished subsequently. Throwing a formidable challenge to the duo is Mohan, who won twice from Chikpet assembly segment.
