City: Bengaluru

Indian Mythology is peppered with great stories. And my favourite right now, with the elections around the corner, is the legend of Mohini - Bhasmasura. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the it, let me give you the abridged version - Lord Shiva who is pleased with the penance of Bhasmasura, the great demon, gives him a boon that he can burn anything and anybody by just placing his hand upon its head. Upon receiving the ‘gift’, Bhasmasura tries to place his hand on Lord Shiva’s head to burn him. To me, nothing else succinctly sums up my…

Congress candidate Rizwan Arshad is currently a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC). He had contested the Lok Sabha election from Bangalore Central in 2014, but had lost to P C Mohan of BJP. Arshad then got elected as MLC in 2016. He is currently the Chairman of the Communications Department of KPCC, and was formerly the President of the Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress. Son of an advocate father and a literature teacher, Arshad is a commerce graduate who started his career through student politics in 1995-96. Age: 39 years Education: B Com Website: rizwanarshad.in Facebook: RizwanArshad Twitter: ArshadRizwan Pending…

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…

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…

  HC notice to BBMP on white-topping Karnataka High Court has issued a notice to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on a PIL opposing the white-topping of South End Road, from Madhavan Park to Nettakallappa Circle via Nagasandra Circle. The order was passed by a Division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice L Narayana Swamy and Justice P S Dinesh Kumar. The PIL had been filed by A C Chandrashekar Raju and seven other residents of Basavanagudi. They had pleaded that white-topping of roads was being done unscientifically, and that the BBMP had not worked out a scientific mechanism for laying…

Potential MP Avare, Namaskara. I’m Sameer Shisodia, living in Bellandur (recently referred to as Outer Koramangala by an ambitious builder!). I have been living in Bengaluru for 23 years, love the city and what it represents, crave the bisibele bath and the coffee when travelling elsewhere, speak a fair bit of Kannada and am learning more. I have also voted several times for local, state and national elections. I have been involved in some community-led efforts for the lake and traffic around here - not as much as I’d like to and not close to what many in my community…

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…

Vatal Nagaraj, known for his hardline pro-Kannada stand, is contesting from Bangalore South constituency this election. Nagaraj is contesting in the ticket of his party, the Kannada Chalavali Vatal Paksha. Hailing from Vatala in Mysore district, Nagaraj had started his political career in Bengaluru as a corporator in 1964. He had been elected thrice as MLA from the Chamarajanagar assembly constituency, in 1989, 1994 and 2004. He had contested in the 2009 Lok Sabha election from Bangalore South constituency itself, but had lost to sitting MP Ananth Kumar. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Nagaraj had supported Congress candidates. Nagaraj…

Krishna Byre Gowda, Karnakata's Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR), is the Congress candidate from Bangalore North parliamentary constituency. Gowda, a second-generation politician, was first elected to the state Assembly in 2003, and was one of its youngest members at the age of 30. He was elected from Vemagal, which had fallen vacant after the death of his father Byre Gowda, a five-time MLA from the constituency. Gowda joined the Congress in 2004, and won the constituency again. In 2007, he was elected the President of the Karnataka Youth Congress Committee. In 2008, he contested and won from…

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…