Articles by Deepa Vaishnavi V M

Coronavirus or COVID-19 needs no introduction. Anyone with access to any form of media today is aware of the current spread of the virus as also the various steps different governments and countries are taking to prevent further outspread. At the time of publishing this interview, the total number of confirmed cases in India stood at 298, with 4 people having died due to the virus. The concern in India currently is that the virus has reached a stage where it will start spreading exponentially if proper care is not taken at both personal and governmental levels. In the midst…

This article is supported by SVP Cities of India Fellowship “I have aged parents to take care of, and two younger brothers to educate. That’s one of the reasons I am doing my MBA.” After completing 12th standard from a government school in Bongaigaon district, Assam, 23-year-old Merajul Hoque has come a long way, quite literally (around 2700 kms, in case you are wondering). An employee of the multinational security company G4S, he has been working as a security guard on deputation to a family in Bengaluru for over three years. While the term chowkidar has become popular for all the…

Gurgaon Lok Sabha (Parliamentary) Constituency comprises nine assembly constituencies - Bawal (SC), Rewari, Pataudi (SC), Badshahpur, Gurgaon, Sohna, Nuh, Ferozepur Jhirka and Punahana. These constituencies are in the districts of Rewari, Gurgaon and Mewat. A financial and technology hub a few kilometers from the National Capital, Gurgaon, the Millenium City,  is considered one of India’s bellwether seats. A bird’s eye view of this constituency can be found here. Gurgaon started as a constituency in Punjab and had Maulana Abul Kalam Azad from the Congress Party as its MP for the first two Lok Sabhas. With Rao Inderjit Singh as its…

This article is supported by SVP Cities of India Fellowship “Madam, all I want now is a job that will help me meet my monthly expenses. That is all.” The worry in Sridhar’s voice and the desperation on his face as he says this, cannot be captured in words. Sridhar’s story is similar to that of many, who in their late teens or early twenties moved to Bengaluru in search of a job, often leaving behind ageing parents and small plots of farmland in their villages. Every year, thousands migrate to Bengaluru in search of a livelihood, to support themselves and…

Lucknow Lok Sabha (Parliamentary) Constituency comprises five assembly constituencies - Lucknow West, Lucknow North, Lucknow East, Lucknow Central and Lucknow Cantt. Being the capital of India's most populous state,Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow is one of the most important political seats in the country. It saw two noted women freedom fighters - Vijayalakshmi Pandit and Sheorajvati Nehru - as its first two MPs in the first ever Lok Sabha; both were incidentally relatives of Jawaharlal Nehru, then PM of India. Lucknow is also the home constituency of ex-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who was elected to the LS from here five times…

Dharwad Parliamentary Constituency (number 11) comprises eight assembly constituencies - Navalgund, Kundgol, Dharwad, Hubli-Dharwad-East, Hubli-Dharwad-Central, Hubli-Dharwad-West, Kalghatgi and Shiggaon. Six of these constituencies are held by the BJP while the remaining two (Kundgol and Hubli-Dharwad East) are held by Congress. Dharwad constituency came into being during the delimitation in 2008. Since then, it has been represented by Pralhad Joshi of BJP. While the constituency is new, this region's history dates back a thousand years, to the 11th century temple of Aharanishankar. It was around this temple that Pubballi (meaning ‘the old village’) developed. A few centuries later, the nearby ‘gateway…

Mysore, parliamentary constituency number 21, comprises eight assembly constituencies: Madikeri (208), Virajpet (209), Piriyapatna (210), Hunsur (212), Chamundeshwari (215), Krishnaraja (216), Chamaraja (217), and Narasimharaja (218). Madikeri and Virajpet are the most recent entrants in this parliamentary constituency which, till the 2007 delimitation process, consisted of only the other six assembly constituencies. From 1957 onwards, and for a long time, Mysore sent a member of the INC to represent its people in the Parliament. Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, a scion of the erstwhile royal family of Mysore, was one of them. BJP made inroads into this seat in 1998 when CH…

Bangalore Rural (parliamentary constituency number 23) comprises eight assembly constituencies - Anekal, Kunigal, Magadi, Ramanagaram, Kanakapura, Channapatna, Bangalore South and Rajarajeshwari Nagar. Bangalore South assembly constituency, comprising wards like Yelachenahalli, Begur and Anjanapura, should not be confused with the Bangalore South parliamentary constituency. Not yet in its teens, Bangalore Rural constituency was created during the delimitation in 2008. The current chief minister of Karnataka, H D Kumaraswamy of JD(S), was the first MP to be elected from this constituency, in 2009. Since 2013, D K Suresh of Congress has been the MP here. The demography of the constituency is largely…

Bangalore North (parliamentary constituency number 24) comprises eight assembly constituencies - KR Pura, Byatarayanapura, Yeshwanthapura, Dasarahalli, Mahalakshmi Layout, Malleshwaram, Hebbal and Pulakeshinagar. Till 2004, this constituency was the stronghold of the Congress. C K Jaffer Sharief of INC had been elected from here to the Lok Sabha seven times (1977-1996 and 1998-2004), and Kengal Hanumanthaiya thrice before him (1962-1977). But since 2004, in the past three elections, BJP has won from here. Bangalore North was one of the nine constituencies in Mysore state in 1951, when the first general elections were held in India. N Keshava Iyengar from the INC…

Bangalore South comprises eight assembly constituencies - Basavanagudi, Bommanahalli, BTM Layout, Chickpet, Govindarajanagar, Jayanagar, Padmanabhanagar and Vijayanagar. The constituency is considered largely conservative and traditional, more so areas like Jayanagar and Basavanagudi. But it also has a fairly large migrant population, many of whom work in the city’s IT sector, in areas like BTM Layout and Bommanahalli. The constituency has been a BJP stronghold for long. Find which wards comes under the Bangalore South parliamentary constituency. According to the website of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Karnataka, as of 16th January, the constituency had 21,66,445 voters - 11,29,388 male, 10,36,718…