K. S. Nagarathanamma (1923 – 17 October 1993) was an Indian politician from the southern state of

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

. She was elected seven times from the Gundlupet constituency to be member of the

Karnataka Legislative Assembly The Karnataka Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Karnataka. Karnataka is one of the six states in India where the state legislature is bicameral, comprising two houses. The two houses ar ...

. She was the first female

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from 1972 to 1978, the erstwhile Mysore Legislative Assembly.

Political career

Before entering politics, Nagarathanamma was vice-president of

The Bharat Scouts and Guides The Bharat Scouts and Guides (BSG) is the national Scouting and 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 the Scout ...

and senate member of the University of Mysore. In 1957 when the Gundlupet constituency was formed, she contested the Mysore Legislative Assembly election as

independent politician An independent or non-partisan politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have political views th ...

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

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

received 13,053. She thus became the first MLA 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 refer ...

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, lit. ''People's Party'') was a political party that was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian Nati ...

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 from the Gundlupet constituency of the Chamarajanagar district ...

with a large margin of 19,140 securing 40,857 votes for herself. She again defeated Prasad in

1989 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1989. Africa * 1989 Beninese parliamentary election * 1989 Botswana general election * 1989 Equatorial Guinean presidential election * 1989 People's Republic of the Congo parliamentary election * ...

winning 50,643 votes. Following that she became the Minister for Health and Family Welfare in 1990. She died in 1993. After her death, Prasad went on to win the elections for Gundlupet Vidhan Sabha seat five times. Nagarathanamma had also served as the leader of opposition and is appreciated for her work as speaker of the house and her working style as opposition leader.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nagarathanamma, K S 1923 births 1993 deaths Place of birth missing Missing middle or first names 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