City: Bengaluru

Chickpet constituency, carved out during delimitation from parts of Basavanagudi, Chamarajpet and Jayanagar, is one of oldest business districts in Bangalore, home to thriving market places frequented by thousands. Yet, even as it is possibly one of the highest contributing areas to the state exchequer, the area is plagued by archaic civic problems, as well as others that are brought upon by the conflict between commercial interests and residential living. From choked roads, traffic bottlenecks and lack of parking spaces to choked drains, garbage problems, pollution and sanitation woes, the constituency seems to be crying out for an overhaul. Key…

Two of the city's biggest engineering colleges, one of its biggest medical colleges, a former prime minister along with a Rashtra Kavi call Padmanabhanagar their home. Yes, PESIT, Dayananda Sagar, Deve Gowda and G S Shivarudrappa, along with Goddess Banashankari, reside in this constituency which includes much of Padmanabhanagar, Kumaraswamy Layout, ISRO Layout, Yediyur and parts of Banashankari, Basavanagudi and Jayanagar. The incumbent and his promisesThe incumbent is three-term MLA and Karnataka's Deputy Chief Minister R Ashoka. First elected in a bye-election in 1997 from Uttarahalli, India's largest assembly at that time, Ashoka was re-elected in 1999 and 2004. In…

Govindraj Nagar may be in the news for having one of the richest candidates, incumbent MLA Priya Krishna, but the neighbourhoods suffer from common city issues, with little done towards infrastructure development.The constituency covers Prashanth Nagar, Corporation Colony, BMP Colony, Govindaraja Nagar, Magadi Chord road Layout, Thimmenahalli, CHBS Layout, Binni Layout, Vijaya Nagar 1st Stage and a few other areas.The total number of voters was 2.78 lakhs during the 2009 bye-elections which has now come down to 2.39 lakhs as per the latest revision.  Incumbent MLA Priya KrishnaPriya Krishna (INC) is one of the youngest MLA in the Karnataka Assembly,…

Abdul Azeem, 60 is a former Assistant Commissioner of Police, while also being a former MLC, from Hebbal. Now standing on a JD(S) ticket, Azeem has served under a gamut of leaders from all leanings. Retiring in 2004, when he still had nine years of service to go, Azeem stood for the Assembly polls that same year from Binnypet and lost. Azeem's advantage is that he has lived and worked in the area, is better known and has a history of service.However, his plans to resolve Hebbal's key issues are sketchy, with talks of relegating growth to outside of Bangalore limits,…

He drove into Chaithanya Samarpan Layout at Kadugodi, around 5 kms north of Whitefield, in an entourage of three vehicles. All of the vehicles were the bulky SUV-types. The owners association had organised a meeting on Sunday (April 28) morning. Pic: acsrinivasa.com. A C Srinivasa is the Congress' candidate for the Mahadevpura constituency in north-eastern Bengaluru. He is the local man who rose from the grassroots to district panchayat president. His immovable properties are worth Rs.83 crores. He is clearly a rich landowner. He was Zilla panchayat president till 2011 and is currently Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee secretary. He was…

It’s twilight, and as you walk, you suddenly see a flapping movement in the air. It’s too late for it to be a bird;  and you suddenly think of a bat. Most of us then repress a shudder, or even squeak in fear... we grow up not liking the idea of bats, and popular films reinforce that idea, associating bats with horror stories. But do take a minute and see the wonderful mammal that the bat is! Bats are the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight; others, such as “flying” squirrels, only glide from one place to…

The Supreme Court guidelines for school bus safety will come into effect from May 1, 2013. But it is no consolation for the family of the three-year-old who was knocked down by his school bus in June last year, or for the six-year-old girl from Chennai who fell to death through a hole in the floor of the bus.School bus accidents are so common in India that they often don't make more than a single column in newspapers. Yet parents are surprisingly silent about safety issues and reluctant to take on schools on this issue. Almost all parents I spoke…

Located in the north-east part of Bangalore, the Sarvagnanagar Assembly Constituency has seen a lot of development in the recent past. With several educational institutions, hospitals and other commercial establishments, the area is thickly populated. But with the drastic rise in development and an influx of people, Sarvagnanagar is lagging behind in infrastructure. The foremost of problems faced by residents is that of drinking water. Key issuesMost northern and eastern parts of the city are facing acute water shortage. The peak of summer is a further testing time. The current MLA of the constituency, K J George (Congress) says he…

BTM Layout Assembly Constituency is home to some of the city's coveted addresses as well as some its worst slums. The constituency has seen a sea change with the IT boom: apart from being home to many IT companies, it also connects Electronic City with the rest of Bangalore. If swanky malls and restaurants are one part of this story, choked roads and unplanned development are the other part. The constituency was one of the seven carved out the erstwhile Uttarahalli constituency before the 2008 assembly elections. Koramangala, BTM Layout, Adugodi, Madivala, Lakkasandara and Ejipura are some of the areas…

Why did you enter politics, what's the motive?Since my college days I have been actively involved in social service and community work. The motive is to expand my area of social service and community work.Do you have any figures in politics / life whom you want to emulate?Smt. Indira Gandhi, for her contribution to our country in providing social equality, concern for the poor, and development plans under the twenty-point programme. Shivaram B K. Pic courtesy: bkshivaram.org What is your ambition?I see myself as people-friendly, being able to listen across cross-sections of society, and overall, to prove my leadership skills…