Articles by Revathi Siva Kumar

Mumbai South constituency is relatively new, having been constituted from a Presidential notification on delimitation on February 2008. This Lok Sabha constituency has six Vidhan Sabha legislative assembly segments, comprising Worli, Shivadi, Byculla, Malabar Hill, Mumbadevi and Colaba. Mumbai South before delimitation was dominated by Gujaratis, Marwaris and some minority vote pockets. However, after delimitation, it is almost seen to be a microcosm of the city's diversity. It is called 'mini Mumbai', as it reflects the diversity of the main city. Since 1996, Mumbai South has been firmly turning the tide in favour of the party that would rule the…

Mumbai South is geared up for a tense face-off between two contestants — sitting Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant and Congress chief Milind Deora. Arvind Sawant, first-time winner from the Shiv Sena in this constituency, banks on his 'son-of-the-soil' image. His main campaign slogan is 'Gully te Dilli, Aapla Manoos (gully to Delhi, our man). Of the 148,58,44 electors in the constituency, 7,79,741 voters, or 52.49% of the electors, turned up to vote at 1,549 polling stations in 2014. Of these, Arvind Sawant got 3,74,609, or 48.04% of the votes. He defeated Milind Deora, who got 2,46,045 or 31.55% of…

D K Suresh is a two-time MP of Bangalore Rural parliamentary constituency. The 52-year-old was born in Doddaalahalli, Ramanagara. Suresh was first elected through a by-election in 2013 from Bangalore Rural, after sitting MP H D Kumaraswamy resigned. He was elected a second time in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Personal information Name: Doddaalahalli Kempegowda Suresh Age: 52 years Constituency: Bangalore Rural Party: Indian National Congress Term: 2013-2014, 2014-2019 Educational Qualifications: Higher Secondary School Profession: Businessperson, farmer, social worker, educationist Address: Doddalahalli, Kanakpura, Ramanagara District, Karnataka-562126 Phone: 9845029142 Email: dksuresh10@gmail.com Online presence: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DKSuresh.official/ Twitter: @DKSureshINC Criminal cases D K Suresh…

Bangalore Central is a rather new Lok Sabha constituency carved out in 2008, as part of 'delimitation'. It was created out of the former Bangalore North and Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituencies. Bangalore Central comprises eight assembly constituencies - Rajajinagar, Chamrajpet, Gandhinagar, Shivajinagar, Shantinagar, Sarvagnanagar, CV Raman Nagar and Mahadevpaura. In the 2018 assembly election, Congress had won five of these constituencies - Sarvagnanagar, Shivajinagar, Shanthinagar, Gandhinagar and Chamarajpet. BJP had won the other three - CV Raman Nagar, Rajajinagar and Mahadevapura. This was a step up for the Congress, which had won only four seats in the 2013 assembly…

The two-time Lok Sabha MP representing Bengaluru Central constituency, P C Mohan from the BJP has quite a long history in politics. He was the MLA of Chickpet assembly constituency for two terms, from 1999 to 2008. He got elected as MP in the 15th (2009) and 16th (2014) Lok Sabha elections from Bengaluru Central. In 2014, Mohan got 51.85 percent of the 10,74,602 votes cast in Bengaluru Central constituency. He defeated his nearest rival, Rizwan Arshad of the INC, by more than 1,37,500 votes. In the 2009 elections, his tally had exceeded that of H T Sangliana from INC, by…

The safety helmet for two-wheeler drivers has become a bone of contention between resistant citizens and firm authorities in two cities this year - Puducherry and Pune. It is compulsory for two-wheeler riders to wear safety helmets under Section 129 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. The rule also says that a helmet should have a thickness of 20-25 mm, with quality foam. It should also have an ISI mark and follow the Bureau of Indian Standards. Yet, the resistance against safety headgear has always been high. Gangotri from Save Life Foundation clarifies that the rule for pillion riders varies from state to…

Ravi, all of five, frowns when he is asked which medium he would opt for in his government school. "English, of course," he says firmly. It is a "wish" echoed by all the small boys and girls near him though it stirs fire and brimstone in high circles far away. The February 2019-20 budget session has announced that 1,000 Karnataka Public Schools will start English-medium sections in Class 1, in addition to the Kannada medium. This is in spite of the angry reactions to the 2018-19 budget pilot project plan that aimed to introduce English medium in 2019 for 1,000 lower primary classes, selected…

Atishi Marlena's soft smiles belie the steely timbre in her voice when she speaks of issues. She is the point-person for education and has made it a central electoral plank for the fledgeling Aam Aadmi Party governing Delhi. Though she was "dismissed" as advisor to the Education Minister Manish Sisodia by the Centre in April 2018, she had by then spearheaded eight key projects, calling for 120 meetings - almost eight per week - since the beginning of the year. Atishi was christened 'Marlena' as a fusion of 'Marx' and 'Lenin' by her leftist Delhi University professor parents, though she recently dropped…

In the last four years, promises to build hostels exclusively for north-eastern students across cities in the north and south have drawn mixed reactions. Some hail the move as an assurance of "safety," while critics slam it as "divisive". Meanwhile, amid divergent reactions, the first hostel built for female students from the north-eastern states, under the scheme mooted by the NDA government at the centre, is said to have been completed, and will be inaugurated in Bengaluru's Jnana Bharathi campus "soon." This was disclosed in a recent announcement by Dr Jitendra Singh, the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER). The hostel,…

The question of whether non resident Indians (NRIs) can play an active role in determining the political leadership of their native country by casting their ballot, and how, has been at the centre of focus on many occasions. The coming elections to the Lok Sabha have created a new flutter over the issue with the looming possibility of NRIs being able to vote through appointed proxies. So, how does the system work at present? And what are the changes being mulled? Here is a quick look at the entire NRI voting process and possibility. According to the provisions of Section…