BBMP Elections

With only two months left for the BBMP council’s term to end and the election likely to be held this year - in 2015, there are all indications of the BBMP polls witnessing an interesting fight between conventional and the new political parties. Though almost all the political parties say it is a bit too early to predict the structure of electoral battlefield, specially when the State government is allegedly trying to delay the polls, they admit that the BBMP election this season is going to be different from past. The victory of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi election…

While the nation is still recovering from the unforeseen historic results of Delhi Assembly elections, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is busy preparing to attack other cities and states. Next in the hit list seems to be Bengaluru. AAP’s Karnataka unit members who are flying high with the clean sweep of the party in the Delhi assembly election are now silently preparing for BBMP polls. The civic body poll is likely to be held this year—in 2015, as the term of the BBMP council ends this April. Though the party did not fetch any seats and underperformed in its political debut…

Google search gives about 8,17,000 results for a ghar wapsi (home coming or re-conversion of religion). Member of Parliament Sakshi Maharaj says, ” [it] is no conversion but just a process to guide these people to the faith where they actually belong.” Budhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Islam and Christianity and many other religions all grew by converting believers of other religions. Conversions from these religions would then be ghar wapsi. However, adding fuel to fire, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief and Hyderabad MP, Asaduddin Owaisi, told in a public speech that every person is born a Muslim and later converted to other faiths. Thus…

Pic courtesy: BPAC The Bangalore Political Action Committee (BPAC) inaugurated the second batch of its flagship program- B.CLIP (B.PAC Civic Leadership Incubator Program) amidst the presence of Bangalore’s citizens, intellectuals and political representatives. The inauguration of the second batch of B.CLIP solidifies B.PAC’s commitment in ensuring the creation of a talented and capable pool of leaders for the city. The B.PAC Civic Leadership Incubator Program (B.CLIP) is a 9-month Leadership Training Program that seeks to inspire, equip and mobilize aspiring citizens to engage in the political process leading up to the municipal corporation elections and help improve city governance. The…

Bangalore has a spanking new set of councillors. We citizens have cast our votes and are hoping, it will pay at least this time. What is interesting is that we have 74 women councillors compared to the 17 in the previous election. Will that make a difference? Of the 74 seats 67 come from reserved constituencies.In the light of the hoopla around Women's Reservation Bill in the Parliament, Bangalore's future administration might become the test case. It is true that most women candidates fielded were political novices and wives or relatives of politicians or political aspirants. And all along, media…

It was a short-lived campaign for the BBMP elections with little sound except for the occasional auto rickshaw blaring loud music and unintelligible squawks alternately. There were fortuitously none of the usual cut-outs, banners or buntings which end up ultimately as so much garbage. The only signs which indicated that a campaign was on, were the colourful pamphlets strewn on the roadside, muddied by the footprints of passers-by.After all the hype and excitement drummed up by the media, the State Election Commission says that only about 44 per cent of Bengalureans voted. But given that the electoral rolls are such…

With the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) council elections having concluded, the city is all set to see the city council functioning after a gap of three years. But first, for the council itself to hold its first meeting, the state government's Urban Development department must issue a notification to conduct elections to the standing committees and for the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Within 30 days of the notification, the first meeting has to be held.According to Additional Council Secretary Mario Pires, the functioning of the BBMP Council is as per rules mentioned in the Karnataka Municipal Corporations…

“Whatever we are doing today is adding to the bank balance. One day you can draw from it”, consoled Dr Jayaprakash Narayan, founder, Lok Satta party and sitting MLA in the Andhra Pradesh state assembly. Addressing his party colleagues, well-wishers and supporters in Bangalore, Narayan asked them to not be disillusioned by the outcome of the BBMP election results. “I salute your courage”, he added.In the recently concluded city council elections, Lok Satta put up five candidates across five wards. Contesting in an election in the state and the city for the very first time, the party did not win…

If there was one clear sign at the end of counting yesterday evening, it was this: the electoral victories that the BJP sustained in 2008 by plucking 17 of the 27 state assembly seats from Bengaluru, has held sway on March 28th as well.The premise of this report is this: party identities and allegiances have broadly held sway in the March 28th city polls, not individual candidate credentials. With individual stature not being a factor in bulk of the wards, voters - whichever way you assume their votes were got -  have stayed with three major parties. For the most,…

It's unlikely that this level of questioning has happened systematically at public election events in Bengaluru before. During the last ten days of campaigning, BBMP council candidates around the city were grilled on tough questions: growth limits for the city, cash compensation for property losers from roadwidening, support from Akrama/Sakrama and more. In addition to the expected and nevertheless important questions water supply, garbage and electricity, 37 candidates from across the city and across party lines were asked to take a stand on key policy issues in terms of ‘YES' or ‘NO' with explanations. While some of these questions were…