Basangouda Patil Yatnal

Yatnal contested as a candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party and was elected from the Bijapur constituency in the 1994 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election. In the 1999 Indian general election, he contested and was elected from the Bijapur constituency of the Lok Sabha. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in the 2004 Indian general election. He was denied candidacy to contest on behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2009 Indian general election as Bijapur constituency became SC reserved after Delimitation.

In 2010, he joined the Janata Dal (Secular). In the 2013 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election, he contested as a candidate of the Janata Dal (Secular) but lost the election from the Bijapur constituency. He later rejoined the Bharatiya Janata Party after being denied the post of state president by the Janata Dal (Secular) in the same year.

In 2015, he was expelled from the Bharatiya Janata Party for 6 years for not withdrawing his nomination as an independent candidate for the twin constituencies of the Bijapur Local Authorities constituency of the Karnataka Legislative Council. He won the election alongside S. R. Patil of the Indian National Congress.

In 2018, he was re-inducted into the Bharatiya Janata Party after 3 years. The Deccan Chronicle noted that his adoption of a hardcore Hindu nationalist stance and support of the Lingayat community aided him in being considered by the party president Amit Shah without understanding the local politics and BSY capability. He contested as a candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party and won the election for a 2nd time from the Bijapur constituency in the 2018 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election.