Chickpet constituency, carved out during delimitation from parts of Basavanagudi, Chamarajpet and Jayanagar, is one of oldest business districts in Bangalore, home to thriving market places frequented by thousands. Yet, even as it is possibly one of the highest contributing areas to the state exchequer, the area is plagued by archaic civic problems, as well as others that are brought upon by the conflict between commercial interests and residential living. From choked roads, traffic bottlenecks and lack of parking spaces to choked drains, garbage problems, pollution and sanitation woes, the constituency seems to be crying out for an overhaul.

Key Issues of the constituency

Key issues range from the pressing and local- traffic, congestion, drainage, sanitation, affordable housing, public spaces and water- to the more global, including FDI in retail and the destruction of small businesses.

Traffic and access top that list. Congestion in the entire City Market area is abysmal, with no footpaths for pedestrians that have not already been claimed by vendors. This includes Avenue Road, BVK Iyengar Road, and the areas around Mamulpet, Sultanpet, Kalasipalya and Dharmarayaswamy Temple. While residents claim that vendors are responsible for access and parking issues, vendors complain that it is the lack of both that are driving the customers away, despite the competitive prices offered. Pedestrians are forced to face vehicular traffic head on, with no pedestrian crossings.

Chickpete inherits an ancient drainage system, with its blocked and leaking sewerage lines. Sudhamanagar’s open drains have posed a serious health risk to residents in the area, while the footpaths from Basappa Circle towards Shivananda Circle are built on the open drains. Arcot Srinivasachar Street, an arterial road that connects the major markets, is witness to open drainage and indiscriminate dumping of garbage.

Public toilets in the Arumugam Mudaliar Road in Kalasipalya, constructed in 1994, have been encroached upon by local goons who have turned the public property into private parking lots, threatening to kill the ward councillor who had attempted to reconstruct the facilities.

Other issues include illegal construction, water contamination and an impending water shortage.

Scams and electoral issues:

Chickpet also saw a 400-crore fraud surface in the award and non-completion of civic projects since 2008, with the active collusion of contractors and corporators. The projects included remodelling of drains near K R Market and construction of Avenue Road, with the bills cleared hastily without the necessary clearances, while there is no evident progress on the ground.

In March 2013, Bangalore Mayor PR Ramesh accused the BJP of deleting a huge number of voters from the Chickpet Constituency electoral register, tilting last year’s BBMP poll in its favour. He said that while voters in all the seven BBMP wards as present during the 2010 BBMP elections totalled 2,33,533, the rolls published by the Chief Electoral Officer in January 2013 contained only 1,70,529 voters. He alleged that either bogus votes were added for political gain, or people have been deprived of their right to vote in the more recent version.

Chickpet also saw a major 400-crore fraud surface, “allegedly perpetrated in civic projects in Chickpet assembly constituency by a nexus of contractors and corporators.” The trail of the scam turned cold with the files pertaining to the same vanishing.The contracts relate to works like remodelling of drains near KR Market and construction of Avenue Road pavement taken up in the constituency since 2008. While work hardly showed any progress on the ground, the bills were cleared in a jiffy. There has also been no clarity on whether necessary clearances were obtained before clearing the bills.

Chickpet includes the wards Akkipete (P), Sowrashtrapete, Balepete, Chickpete (P), Anchepete, Huriupete, Mamoolpete, Ballapurpete, Cubbonpete, Ramanpete and K G Extension.

Incumbent MLA’s performance

The BJP’s Dr. D. Hemachandra Sagar won the 2008 elections, securing 40,252 votes, out of the total vote base of 2,08,178. In second place was R. Devaraj of the Congress, who lagged behind by a margin of 7281 votes, securing 32,971. There was only 48% voter turnout in the 2008 elections.

Sagar’s performance as an MLA draws a blank. Besides taking pride in organising ‘mass marriages’, Aadhar card drives, Sagar claims to have built concrete structures for slum residents in Sudhama Nagar. However, Citizen Matters has not verified these claims. Residents accuse him of inaccessibility, indifference to civic issues and unwillingness to undertake crucial infrastructural projects. However, he tried his best to apprise people about the works done by him.

Far more dire is his record as a politician. Sagar stands accused in a massive land denotification scam alongside tainted CM Yedyurappa. As chairman of Sagar Health Group, one of the main shareholders in Sahyadri Health Care and Diagnostics Private Limited (SHC&DPL), Sagar allegedly paid the company Rs 3.35 crore in the form of share application for denotifying his land in survey number 121 of Uttarahalli village.  This land had been notified for the formation of Banashankari Vth stage residential layout. In effect, Sagar abused his official position and ensured that the possession of the land was not taken over by the BDA, causing the exchequer a loss of over Rs 175 crore.

Candidate profiles – Elections 2013

The BJP’s efforts to dissociate itself from Yeddyurappa’s tainted shadow resulted in Sagar not getting ticket this time. The allotting of ticket to Uday Garudachar was met with little resentment among the party workers, except for a minor protest by supporters of Rajarajeshwarinagar MLA M Srinivas at the party office.

Garudachar-owned Maverick Holdings is currently facing two Lokayukta enquiries. The first pertains to illegal construction on the land given to it by the BBMP to construct a public lot – the wholly commercial structure better-known as Garuda Mall.This mall has also encroached on land beyond its boundaries, constructed additional floors, housed additional shops and evaded rent and revenue payments to the BBMP, while refusing inspection. The second pertains to the award of the contract for construction of affordable housing for the residents of EWS Quarters in Ejipura, who were evicted from their homes in January 2013 without any rehabilitation. However, Garudachar  claims to be having a ‘soft corner for these slum guys.’. For a full interview with Garudachar, click here.

Among other candidates, JD(S) candidate M C Narayan Gowda has acquired notoriety with his run-ins with the Lokayukta, being accused of disproportionate assets. Congress candidate R Devaraj, who lost by a margin of 7,000 votes in 2008, is possibly looking to ride in on the strong anti-incumbency and minority vote.

Profiles of Candidates

Chickpet has 1,87,508 voters, as of the list released on 17 April 2013 by the Election Commission. It remains to be seen if there is any one, strong candidate to emerge blemishless, curry popular favour and rise to the real challenges that Chickpet poses.