Articles by Sandhya Bhat

Table of contentsConstituency mapAt a glanceFind your polling boothKey candidates contesting in the Lok Sabha elections 2024Additional informationPast election resultsKey issuesCandidates in the newsAlso read: Bangalore Rural (Parliamentary Constituency number 23) comprises eight assembly constituencies: 131-Kunigal, 154-Rajarajeshwari, 176-Bangalore South, 177-Anekal Nagar, 182-Magadi, 183-Ramanagaram, 184-Kanakapura and 185-Channapatna. Bangalore South assembly constituency, comprising wards like Yelachenahalli, Begur and Anjanapura, should not be confused with the Bangalore South parliamentary constituency. Bangalore Rural constituency was created during the delimitation in 2008. The ex-chief minister of Karnataka, H D Kumaraswamy of JD(S), was the first MP to be elected from this constituency in 2009. Since…

Table of contentsConstituency mapAt a glanceFind your polling boothKey candidates contesting in the Lok Sabha Elections 2024Additional informationPast election resultsKey issuesCandidates in the newsAlso read: Bangalore Central Parliamentary constituency came into existence in 2008 after delimitation. It was carved out of Bangalore North and Bangalore South. The first Lok Sabha election was held in this constituency in 2009 and the second in 2014. Bangalore Central comprises eight assembly constituencies: Rajajinagar, Chamrajpet, Gandhinagar, Shivajinagar, Shantinagar, Sarvagnanagar, CV Raman Nagar and Mahadevapura. The majority of voters in this constituency are linguistic and religious minorities. Large slums, the Central Business District, gated communities…

Table of contentsDK Suresh: Personal informationOnline presence Criminal casesAssets and liabilities Positions heldPerformance in Parliament Summary of debates and questionsMPLADS funds spending for Bangalore RuralDK Suresh in the news Also read: Doddaalahalli Kempegowda Suresh or DK Suresh is a three-time MP of Bangalore Rural parliamentary constituency. The 57-year-old was born in Doddaalahalli, Ramanagara. He is from the Indian National Congress (INC). D K  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. DK Suresh: Personal information NameD K SureshAge57 yearsPolitical PartyIndian National Congress…

P. Chikkamuni Mohan or P C Mohan, from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is a three-time Lok Sabha MP representing Bangalore Central constituency. He was the MLA of Chickpet assembly constituency for two terms, from 1999 to 2008. He got elected as MP in the 15th (2009), 16th (2014) and 17th (2019) Lok Sabha elections from Bangalore Central. As per this report card In 2019, Mohan got 6,02,853 votes (50.35%); while his rival Rizwan Arshad of Indian National Congress (INC) got 5,31,885 votes (44.43%). In 2014, Mohan got 51.85 % of the 10,74,602 votes cast in Bangalore Central constituency. He…

As the Lok Sabha 2024 election is underway, political parties have released their election manifestos. What do the parties promise for us urban residents? How do they plan to make our cities sustainable and liveable? Why cities matter In 2022, approximately a third of the total population in India lived in cities. The trend shows an increase in urbanisation by more than 4% over the last decade, which means that people have moved away from rural areas to find work and make a living in the cities. The demographic dividend of India is significant, with 65% of its population being…

Two major announcements were made in February 2024: Karnataka Assembly passed the BBMP Amendment Bill 2024. Bengaluru development/Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on X (twitter) hailed it as a taxpayer-friendly Bill. The amendment was projected to benefit around 13-15 lakh people in Bengaluru, including 5.51 lakh taxpayers, by reducing the penalty on property tax arrears by 50%. This was followed, on February 20th, by BBMP’s draft notification proposing a new property tax calculation structure in Bengaluru. The new structure, based on Guidance Value (GV), is expected to begin during the next financial year, starting April 1st. Tax computation Municipalities in…

In 2019, a new underground drainage pipe (UGD) was installed to clear an earlier blocked sewer that erupted, leaked, and contaminated the land. The culprit – output from the unplanned growth of commercial kitchens in 5th block, Koramangala, which have been pumping these effluents into the UGD. The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) moved the UGD from the carriage way to the side of the road, where all the utilities were planned, as part of the whitetopping procedure. They found that the discharge from the line that was attached to a restaurant was entirely filled with oil when…

At the recently held BBMP – Work Orders, Budgets and Processes Datajam, a group of citizen volunteers analysed the data available in the public domain, here are their observations and suggestions on BBMP’s cess collection. To:Sri. Nagaraj SherigarBBMP Additional Commissioner (Finance) Dear Sir, We are a group of citizen volunteers who would like to share our observations and suggestions on BBMP’s cess collection. Observations: We attempted to find out how much cess and surcharge was being collected each year by BBMP based on the agency’s cess receipts and where it was spent. The team found that although typically cess forms…

The Merriam Webster dictionary’s definition of the word ‘manifesto’ is “A written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer”. Do the manifestos released by the four main political parties contesting the May 10th Karnataka assembly elections fit that definition? The intentions are somewhat spelt out, the motives are unknown. And its views on issues like decentralisation, of urban governance in particular, finds no mention at all. The tradition of issuing “manifestos” began with the first election in 1952. But those were different and simpler times with one major party, which faced no worthwhile opposition. But today’s…