U. B. Banakar

Banakar first became an MLA winning the 1994 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election from Hirekerur Assembly constituency representing Bharatiya Janata Party. However, he lost the next three consecutive elections from the same seat. He lost on BJP ticket in 1999 and 2004 and then contested unsuccessfully as an independent candidate in 2008. He later shifted to Karnataka Janata Paksha and won the 2013 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election. He polled 52,623 votes and defeated his nearest rival, B. C. Patil, of Indian National Congress by a margin of 2,606 votes.^[5] Again he lost the 2018 Assembly election as a BJP candidate to B. C. Patil of Congress by a narrow margin of 555 votes.

He regained the Hirekerur Assembly constituency in the 2023 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election on Indian National Congress ticket. He polled 85,378 votes and defeated his nearest rival, the then Agricultural Minister of Karnataka, B.C.Patil by a margin of 15,020 votes, which is the biggest margin ever in the state legislative assembly election contested by both U. B. Banakar and B. C. Patil, political fires of the constituency.^[6][7][8]