A sleepy agriculture village a couple of decades ago, Mahadevapura is today part of the IT story of Bangalore, a transformation as radical as there could be.

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Not too long ago, the residents of the village that is surrounded by Hoody and Marathhalli could not afford decent dwellings. While the land-owning farmers were into agriculture, the economically poor families used to make a living by rearing goats and cows. Today, the paddy fields and vegetable gardens have been replaced by swanky glass and concrete buildings housing IT companies, although a few farmers still grow vegetables and paddy around Bellandur lake.

With the establishment of International Tech Park in 1996, Mahadevapura started witnessing rapid metamorphosis and today it has become a destination for not only IT companies but also for people from all over the country seeking to partake in the prosperity of the Silicon Valley of India.

With the real estate boom peaking, thousands of hectares of agricultural land made way for the construction of multi-storied buildings, IT parks, commercial complexes and residential apartment blocks. Small farmers who owned an acre or half of agriculture land and saw the bicycle as a luxury, are now crorepathis zipping around in SUVs.

The narrow road of uneven surface that connected Old Madras Road and Whitefield via Mahadevapura is now a four-laner that is one of the busiest roads in Bangalore. Prior to the establishment of ITPL, Mahadevapura had a few manufacturing units such as Bhoruka Steel, Andhra Steel and Graphite India. The latter continues to provides employment for thousands of people. Marathhalli, one of the developed areas, is the first locality in Bangalore to have a multiplex theatre - Innovative Multiplex. One more multiplex theatre - Phoenix Market City - on Mahadevapura Main Road, opposite CMC complex opened last year.There are around 500 multi-storied buildings and 2,500 residential apartments in and around Marathhalli which is also known to be the home for 100 showrooms that sell seconds of well-known brands.

There are two lakes - Varthur and Bellandur and there was a proposal to develop Bellandur lake as water sports centre, but the project never took off. With the prosperity, Mahadevapura also became an important assembly constituency and the battleground of moneybags. Prominent areas in Mahadevapura assembly segment are: Kadugodi, Bidarahalli, Varthur, Boodigere, Avalahalli, Mahadevapura, Bellandur, Doddakannalli, Bairathi, Kammasandra, Ramagondhalli.

Sri Satya Sai Suprerspecialty Hospital, Brindavan are also prominent institutions in this assembly segment. Aravind Limbavali, minister in the BJP government is in the field to retain this seat, and pitted against him is Srinivas of the Congress. Actor Mayur Patel is trying his luck on a BSR Congress ticket.

The total number of voters in 2008 were 2.74 lakh (1.46 lakh male and 1.28 lakh female voters). Now, 37,236 more eligible voters have enrolled their names in the voters’ list. Interestingly, among the six BBMP wards -- Hoody, Garudacharpalya, Kadugodi, Hagadoor, Doddanekkundi and Marathhalli -- only one ward (Doddanekkundi) is represented by the BJP. While Limbavali is confident of his success at the hustings, Srinivas is hoping to cash in on a perceived anti-incumbency wave.