As a run-up to the upcoming Assembly Elections in Karnataka, the Bangalore Apartments’ Federation (BAF) has launched a campaign Every Vote Matters (EVM). The campaign will have multiple activities to support member residents in three themes: Voter registration, voter awareness, and voter participation.
Historically, it is generally believed that apartments/gated communities are not considered a significant vote bank as very few people register and vote, especially in local or assembly elections. BAF, through its sustained campaign, hopes to change this mindset and establish itself as a vote bank to reckon with.
The campaign is expected to reach half a million people as more than 1,180 apartment and villa resident welfare associations (RWAs) are members of BAF, representing nearly 250,000 households with close to one and a half million citizens, either residing or working within these communities.
The assembly elections are of historic significance, more so for Bengaluru as it is expected that the outcome of these elections will set the tone for the developmental agenda of our city for the next two decades.
According to Vishnu Gattupalli, Vice President of BAF, the campaign is designed in a manner that provides a fantastic opportunity for both their members as well as all participating political parties and candidates to engage with each other and have objective conversations and debates on the developmental agenda of the city.
As a first step, BAF has organised an “All Party Town Hall” event.
Event details
- Date: March 12th (Sunday)
- Time: 10 am to 1 pm
- Venue: Wadiyar Hall in The Century Club, 1 Seshadri Road, Ambedkar Veedhi
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Panellists
The panel consists of four representatives from four major political parties:
- BJP Representative: Dr Ashwath Narayan C N
- INC Representative: Sri Ramalinga Reddy
- Janata Dal (Secular) Representative: Sri Tanveer Ahmed
- Aam Aadmi Party Representative: Sri Prithvi Reddy
- Meera K, co-founder of Citizen Matters, will co-moderate the event
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H A Nagaraja Rao, President of BAF, says: “The upcoming elections are extremely crucial for the future of Bengaluru. We would like our member residents, who constitute a significant part of the electorate of the city and who contribute significantly to the development of Bengaluru, to be supported in their right to exercise their franchise.”
Vikram Rai, General Secretary of BAF, says: “BAF has always interacted with the political representatives of the city to highlight and solve issues and priorities pertaining to our members in particular and the city in general. The occasion around an election is particularly significant since it allows us to reflect back on the performance of the last 5 years and set expectations for the next 5 years and more. The BAF EVM campaign is designed towards that.”
During the March-April time frame, meetings with candidates from different political parties are expected to be organised in the 25 BAF member cluster groups, which are largely aligned to the assembly constituency.
For more details about the campaign and to participate in various activities, contact: info@baf.org.in or +91-99003 95000. Register yourself for the physical event along with questions using this form.