Prathap Simha

He started his career as a journalist in Vijaya Karnataka newspaper. He soon rose to fame for his column ‘Bettale Jagattu’ (Naked World), which had a sharp and critical outlook on the world.

He expressed his desire to contest from the Udupi Chikmagalur constituency as a member of the BJP in the 2014 general election, and the party accepted his candidature but was asked to contest from the Mysore seat, from where he emerged victorious.

He retained his Mysore Lok Sabha seat in 2019 with a margin of 1.39 Lakh votes by defeating the Congress candidate. Also, he is the only candidate in the history of the Mysore Lok Sabha constituency to secure more than 5 lakh votes in both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

In 2015, he spoke out against the Karnataka government's birthday celebrations for Tipu Sultan. He said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was "encouraging Jihadists" in the State and that Sultan could serve as a "role model only for Islamists." In this context, Simha was detained in 2017 for violating the police's prohibitions against participating in the organisers of Hanuman Jayanti's march in Hunsur, a town inside his constituency.