Bharath Bommai, BJP candidate | Photo Credit: SANJAY RITTI Calculations around castes and sub-castes tend to play a big role in the electoral arena in India, barring some exceptions. One such could be the Shiggaon Assembly constituency in Haveri district of Karnataka, where the Lingayat Panchamasali community is numerically strong followed by Muslims. However, former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, belonging to the numerically smaller Sadar Lingayat community, has won the seat four times in a row and is now canvassing for his son Bharath Bommai. The byelection was necessitated because of Mr. Basavaraj Bommai’s entry to the Lok Sabha. Muslim representation While Shiggaon had Muslim representation earlier, the last election when a Muslim candidate won was in 1999, when the Janata Dal (Secular) candidate Sayed Azeem Peer Khadri registered a victory. Mr. Khadri shifted to the Indian National Congress in 2004 and lost to an Independent candidate, Rajashekhar Sindhur, who in 2008 “sacrificed” his seat to make way for Mr. Basavaraj Bommai, who had quit the Janata Dal (United) and joined the BJP. The constituency, a …