Kabballi Subbanna Nagarathanamma (23 November 1923 – 17 October 1993) was an Indian politician from the southern state of

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

. She was elected seven times from the Gundlupet constituency to the

Karnataka Legislative Assembly The Karnataka Legislative Assembly (formerly the Mysore Legislative Assembly) is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of the southern Indian state of Karnataka. Karnataka is one of the six states in India where the state legislature ...

. She was the first female speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, when she served between 1972 and 1978, and also the first female leader of opposition of the Assembly.

Early life

Nagarathanamma was born on 23 November 1923 to Channamma and C. R. Gowda, an engineer, as their eldest of nine children. She had six sisters and two brothers. In 1934, she was married at the age of 11 to K. C. Subbanna (1911–1947). His family resided in

Gundlupet Gundlupet (''Gundlupētē'' in Kannada) is a municipal town situated in the Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka, India. It is also known as "''The flower pot of India''". It is situated on NH 766, 60 km away from Mysuru and approximately ...

, then a part of the Mysore district, and was a family involved in public service and politics. Subbanna served as president of the Gundlupet District Board for nine years before his death in August 1947. Upon being urged by the people of Gundlupet to follow the legacy of public service of the Kabballi family, Nagarathanamma contested the 1957 Mysore Legislative Assembly election from

Career

Before entering politics, Nagarathanamma served as vice-president of

the Bharat Scouts and Guides The Bharat Scouts and Guides (BSG) is the national Scouting and Girl Guides, Guiding association of India. The national headquarters of BSG is recognised by the Government of India. Scouting was founded in India in 1909 as an overseas branch of ...

and senate member of the

University of Mysore The University of Mysore is a public state university in Mysore, Karnataka, India. The university was founded during the reign of Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV and the premiership of Sir M. Visvesvaraya. The university is recognised by t ...

. In 1957, when the Gundlupet constituency was formed, she contested the election as an

independent politician An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or Bureaucracy, bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicia ...

and won upon securing 24,955 votes, whereas her only opponent H. K. Shivarudrappa of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

received 13,053. She thus became the first legislator of the constituency. She again defeated Shivarudrappa in 1962 elections winning 22,765 as against his 20,010 votes. She contested the 1967 elections as member of Indian National Congress and defeated K. B. Jayadevappa with a large margin of 21,423 by securing 30,778 as against his 9,355 votes. Nagarathanamma retained the constituency for the fourth time in 1972 elections defeating B. Basappa of

Indian National Congress (Organisation) The Indian National Congress (Organisation) also known as Congress (O) or Syndicate/Old Congress was a political party in India formed when the Congress party split following the expulsion of Indira Gandhi. On 12 November 1969, the Prime Minist ...

. She won 30,055 votes and Basappa won 20,255 votes. She was elected as the speaker of the assembly in 1972 till 1978 and became the first female speaker of the house. In the

1978 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1978. Africa * 1978 Cameroonian parliamentary election * 1978 Comorian legislative election * 1978 Comorian presidential election * 1978 Egyptian protection of national unity and social peace referend ...

she faced defeat when Shivarudrappa, her long time contender, won by a close margin of 271 votes and received 27,141 votes while both were independent candidates. The 1983 elections again saw her come back to her seat as INC member by defeating H. N. Srikanta Setty of

Janata Party The Janata Party (JP, ) is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jaiprakash Bandhu. The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political partie ...

and won 44,085 votes. In the following 1985 elections she defeated

H. S. Mahadeva Prasad Halahalli Shreekantha Shetti Mahadeva Prasad (5 August 1958 – 3 January 2017) was an Indian politician from the state of Karnataka and five-time Member of the Legislative Assembly (India), Member of the Legislative Assembly from the Gundlupet ...

with a large margin of 19,140 securing 40,857 votes for herself. Between 1987 and 1989, she served as leader of opposition in the Assembly. Nagarathanamma again defeated Prasad in 1989 elections winning 50,643 votes. In 1990, she was appointed Minister for Health and Family Welfare. Since the 1970s till her death in 1993, Nagarathnamma lived at a farmouse in Kenchenahalli, nearby Bangalore.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nagarathanamma, K S 1923 births 1993 deaths 20th-century Indian women politicians Place of birth missing Indian National Congress politicians from Karnataka Mysore MLAs 1957–1962 Mysore MLAs 1962–1967 Mysore MLAs 1967–1972 Mysore MLAs 1972–1977 Karnataka MLAs 1983–1985 Karnataka MLAs 1985–1989 Karnataka MLAs 1989–1994 Speakers of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly Leaders of the opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly

Early life

Career

See also

References