With Sonia Gandhi and Sushma Sw-araj locking horns, Bellary is in the news. It has returned Congress candidates consistently -- from T. Subrahmanyan, VKRV Rao and Basavarajeshwari to K.C. Kondiah.

Lingayats are the prominent caste here accounting for around 20 per cent of the population followed by the Scheduled Castes (17 per cent) and Scheduled Tribes (10 per cent).

Muslims form 12 per cent of the population in this constituency. Another interesting fact which BJP campaign managers may not like to highlight: BJP candidate I. Sanganakal got just 6.95 per cent of the votes in 1996 and the Lok Shakti candidate N. Thippanna stood third with 25.34 per cent votes.