MYSURU: More than the candidates, talk in Mandya, the state’s sugar bowl , has centered around the houses the candidates have — or will take — on rent. Locals call these rented houses “election houses” since many leaders in the past vacated residences they had taken on rent after defeats in elections. Some never stayed in the houses at all.The contest in Mandya has grabbed the limelight since both Sumalatha , wife of former minister and actor MH Ambareesh, and Nikhil Kumaraswamy , grandson of JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda and son of CM HD Kumaraswamy, are likely to contest.Sources say Sumalatha is trying to get the same house in Chamundeshwari Nagar that her late husband Ambareesh had taken in 2013. Ambareesh had vacated the house after he was dropped from former chief minister Siddaramaiah’s cabinet. Followers of Nikhil Kumaraswamy say they have zeroed in on former city municipal council (CMC) member MJ Chikkanna’s house in Marigowda Layout.Speaking to TOI, Chikkanna said: “It’s a duplex house with four bedrooms and stands on a 50x100sqft site. It comes with a lawn and there is ample car-parking space. I am ready to sell the house or give it on lease.”Congress leader Ramya (Divya Spandana), the present AICC social media chief, had vacated her house in Mandya after she lost the election to JD(S) leader CS Puttaraju. Even though Ramya had rented the house — a spacious seven-bedroom bungalow near Sir M Visvesvaraya district stadium — she never stayed there. She had rented the bungalow after she won the Mandya Lok Sabha byelection in August 2013.In 1984, former chief minister SM Krishna, who served as industries and finance minister in Indira Gandhi’s government, contested the Lok Sabha election and stayed in ‘Sadat Manzil’ — the same house Ramya had taken on rent — for campaigning. But Krishna lost the election against Janata Paksha candidate KV Shankaragowda and gave up the house.L Sandesh, president, Devaraj Urs Backward Class Forum, told TOI that Ambareesh, who served as MLA for three terms, would say he would purchase a house during every election, but he never did. “In the 2013 election, he rented a house in Chamundeswari Layout, but stayed in the house owned by his associate ‘Amaravathi’ Chandrashekar on the outskirts of the city,” Sandesh said. “This is one factor which led to his defeat as people could not meet him to express their grievances.”Sandesh said it is common during elections for candidates to take houses on rent to send a message to voters that they will be accessible in Mandya to hear their problems. “But in this election, renting a house will not have an impact on vote share,” he said.

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