Mahesh Tenginakai (born 1 January 1971) is an Indian politician from

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 ...

. He is a member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from Hubli-Dharwad Central Assembly Constituency in

Dharwad District Dharwad or Dharawada is an administrative district of the state of Karnataka in southern India. The administrative headquarters of the district is the city of Dharwad, also known as Dharwar. Dharwad is located 425 km northwest of Bangalo ...

. He won the

2023 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections were held in Elections in Karnataka, Karnataka on 2023 elections in India, 10 May 2023 to elect all List of constituencies of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, 224 members of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. T ...

representing

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

and defeated former chief minister

Jagadish Shettar Jagadish Shivappa Shettar (born 17 December 1955) is an Indian politician, who served as the 15th Chief Minister of Karnataka from 2012 to 2013. He is currently serving as Member of parliament representing Belgavi constituency.He has subsequent ...

, who quit BJP after he was denied a ticket.

Early life and education

Tenginakai hails from the Lingayat community in

Hubli Hubli (officially Hubballi) is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. The twin cities Hubli–Dharwad form the second largest city in the state by area and population and the largest city in North Karnataka. Hubli is in Dharwad district of ...

. He completed his intermediate, the pre-university course. He is a businessman.

Career

Tenginakai was associated with the BJP for over two decades but made his debut in electoral politics only in 2023. He was elected as an MLA from Hubli-Dharwad Central Assembly Constituency winning the

2023 Karnataka Legislative Assembly Election Legislative Assembly elections were held in Elections in Karnataka, Karnataka on 2023 elections in India, 10 May 2023 to elect all List of constituencies of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, 224 members of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. T ...

by a huge margin. He defeated former chief minister

, who contested on Indian National Congress Party ticket by a margin of 34,289 votes. Shettar, a six-time MLA, was denied a ticket by BJP and he shifted to Congress but lost the seat. In February 2025, he criticised the allotment of land in Hubli-Dharwad for the construction of a district Congress party office at a concessional rate and questioned the financial priorities of the Congress government. The Karnataka cabinet approved the land, belonging to the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation, worth Rs.5.6 crore for Rs.28 lakhs.

References

External links

Karnataka Legislative Assembly
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tenginakai, Mahesh 1971 births Living people Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Karnataka Karnataka MLAs 2023–2028 People from Hubli-Dharwad