BBMP

Bangalore People's Forum has recently come up with a manifesto for the consideration of voters and candidates participating in elections in BBMP electiions 2010. The forum consists of the following organisations.  ActionAid, Alternate Law Forum, Centre for Education and documentation, CIVIC, Community Health Cell, Concerned for Working Children, Environment Support Group (Environment, Social Justice and Governance Initiatives), Garment and Textile Workers Union, Hasiru Usiru, Hengasara Hakkina Sangha, Janasahyog, Janarogya Andholan Karnataka (PHM-KA), Kilikili, Maraa, Nightingales Medical Trust, Sahajeeran, Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled, Sangama, Save Bangalore Committee, Slum Jagattu, The Avenue Road Traders Associations, Vimochana Introduction All efforts of the…

Citizen Matters is organising two election debates/meet-the-candidates interactions in your area - one for BTM Ward (176) and one for JP Nagar ward (177). Both events will happen on the weekend of March 20-21. March 28, will be a historic day for both Bengaluru and the High Court of Karnataka. For 3 1/2 years, the city did not have its own government and that will soon change. If the High Court had not put its foot down repeatedly, we may have seen even more postponements. For a number of reasons this election may turn out to be a watershed in…

In what is their first step towards mainstream politics in Bangalore, a group of city-based activists have come together for the BBMP council elections by floating two independent candidates. These activists have formed a group called the Praja Rajakiya Vedike, which will support the candidates in these elections. Says Elavarthi Manohar, one of the members of this group, "We have all fought with regard to human rights, women's rights, sexuality minority rights. We wanted to bring about a change. So we all got together". Manohar is also the founder of Sangama, a sexuality minorities human rights organisation for individuals oppressed…

 After mindlessly surfing the networking world, I finally thought I'll write something. What then shall I write about? The current hot topics are Women's Reservation Bill & IPL.Forget IPL, everyone wants to write about it - whether it concerns cricket or not. The women's reservation bill - well, I don't like reservation of any kind. But that's another story altogether.So what do I want to write about? Well, there's the BBMP election. An election that has been postponed so much that I'm not too sure it'll happen until the D-day. The ward I live in has a SC, W category.…

With the public objecting to a recent move to pull down old bus shelters and replace them with new ones, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has now ordered the private firms (who were awarded the contracts) to stop dismantling these shelters temporarily. (Bus shelters are also called bus stands.)In a decision taken about ten days ago, after media reports and objections from citizens, the advertisement department of the BBMP has decided to first conduct an inspection before proceeding with the work. Says Hari Narayan, Assistant Executive Engineer, Advertisement department, "We have told them not to dismantle until joint inspection.…

BE A COMMUNITY JOURNALIST! Join our public initiative to collect and share candidate information. Download the questionnaire and collect the info about BBMP candidates. You can use candidate affidavit, candidate supplied material, and/or speak to the candidate to gather the details. We will be continually uploading details as they are available right here. Keep watching! What is the election schedule? March 7th 2010 - Election code of conduct comes into force March 8th 2010 - Notification will be issued March 15th 2010 - Last date for filing nominations March 17th 2010 - Scrutiny of nominations filed March 19th 2010 -…

Koramangala Smartvote is a campaign aimed at increasing voter turnout for BBMP elections and helping residents make an informed choice.  Koramangala Smart Vote Volunteers have been conducting a door to door campaign since November 2009, to reach out to residents in Koramangala Ward 151. Apart from this mass outreach campaigns have been conducted at Christ College, Jyothi Nivas College,  Rotary Club of Koramangala, Ladies Clubs in Koramangala, CPWD quarters, Koramangala Club and at other social gatherings. Door to door campaign will be continued till around elections time. Additionally mass outreach events are being planned at Koramangala mosque and other social…

Recently, Smart Vote, a Bangalore-based citizens' group, discovered a number of errors in the electoral lists of several polling booths. While some were complete replicas of a neighbouring polling booth, others showed some names repeated several times in the same list. The issue was brought to the notice of the State Election Commission (SEC) which is overseeing the BBMP council elections. Even as these errors were being rectified, there seemed to be many more such anomalies going unreported. Chief Electoral Officer Dr C S Suranjana, at his office near Cubbon Park. Pic: Vaishnavi VittalIt's against this backdrop that Citizen Matters…

The State Election Commission has announced the BBMP council elections schedule, with March 28th 2010 as the day of elections. The election code of conduct has been in force since March 7th and will go on till April 6th.The last date for filing nominations is March 15th while the nominations will be scrutinised on March 17th. The last date for withdrawing nomination papers is March 19th. After polling takes place on March 28th between 7 am and 5 pm, counting will be done a week later on April 5th. If necessary, repolling will take place on April 4th.March 7th 2010…

The Karnataka Lokayukta has ordered a departmental enquiry against the BBMP Commissioner Bharat Lal Meena, BWSSB Chairman P B Ramamurthy and few other officials for a case of zoning violation in Jayanagar. Though the Lokayukta's orders are recommendatory and not binding, the order comes as another slap on the face of a city that recently witnessed the Carlton Towers fire accident. The Lokayukta issued this order on December 23rd 2009.Also, Meena and Ramamurthy, both IAS officers, have been slapped with a showcause notice by the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms on February 17th 2010.BBMP had sanctioned a plan for…