ELECTIONS

Chennai Central results on May 23 saw the DMK’s Dayanidhi Maran emerging the winner. He beat his nearest rivals Sam Paul (PMK) and Kameela Nasser (MNM) with a comfortable margin. Chennai Central is a diverse constituency with a wide cross-section of voters belonging to all socio-economic classes. There is cultural diversity as well - a sizeable Hindi and Urdu speaking population, apart from Telugus and Malayalis.  It has a significant Muslim population - over 2 lakhs - in Chepauk – Triplicane and Egmore assembly constituencies. Chennai Central Parliamentary constituency is comprised of six assembly constituencies — Villivakkam, Egmore (SC), Harbour,…

An RSS swayamsevak and lawyer at the Karnataka High Court, 28-year-old Tejasvi Surya is the winning candidate from Bangalore South constituency. Known for being the General Secretary of the Karnataka state Yuva Morcha, Surya has also been part of BJP’s national social media team. He is also the nephew of Ravi Subramanya, the BJP MLA from Basavanagudi. Bangalore South parliamentary constituency is a BJP stronghold. For the longest time, it was held by six-time MP late Ananth Kumar. The seat had remained vacant since Kumar's demise last November. It was widely reported that BJP’s national leadership had chosen Surya over Ananth…

D V Sadananda Gowda of Bharatiya Janata Party has retained his Bangalore North seat, becoming an MP for the fourth time. Gowda got 8.2 lakh votes or 52.83 percent of the total votes polled. His closest rival, Congress candidate Krishna Byre Gowda - MLA and Minister in Karnataka’s ruling coalition - trailed behind Gowda by over a lakh votes. Sadananda Gowda had handled three portfolios in the Modi cabinet - Minister of Railways, Minister of Law, and eventually Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Straight match Bangalore North has been BJP’s stronghold since 2004. Sadananda Gowda had won the 2014 elections…

Dr Kalanidhi Veeraswamy of the DMK has won from North Chennai. He is the son of veteran DMK leader and former state minister Arcot Veeraswamy. A doctor and graduate of Stanley Medical College, this is Kalanidhi’s political debut. Citizen Matters had interviewed Dr Kalanidhi during the election campaign in April. Here he talks about his plans for improving North Chennai, from closing the Kodangaiyur dump yard to decongestion, from creation of jobs to infrastructure for fisherfolk. What are the problems that people put forth to you over the course of your campaign? The information we got from assembly constituencies and…

The counting of votes for the 17th Lok Sabha elections is just days away. But how does such a mammoth counting exercise take place? Here is a guide. Preparations for the Counting Day The Returning Officer (RO) fixes the time & place of counting at least one week before the date of polling. The place is decided in consultation with the police. The selected place should be spacious enough with adequate lighting and other facilities to accommodate the officials and agents. A permanent structure like a college or a university is usually selected for the purpose of counting. The same is…

Kolkata Uttar Lok Sabha constituency comprises the following assembly constituencies: Chowranghee, Entally, Beleghata, Jorasanko, Shyampukur, Maniktala, Kashipur and Belgachhia. The constituency came into being after a delimitation exercise in 2008. The two Lok Sabha elections contested since have seen candidates of the Trinamool Congress (AITC) emerge as the victor. A total of 21 candidates are contesting from various political parties and as independents from Kolkata Uttar parliamentary constituency. According to the CEO, West Bengal, the constituency has a total voter strength of 14,43,818 -- 794275 male, 649528 female and 15 of other gender. [flexiblemap src="http://data.opencity.in/Data/West-Bengal-Parliament-Constituency-Kolkata-North-Map-V-1.kml" width="100%" height="400px" ] Note –…

Come May 19th, it will be fauji versus fauji for the first time ever in the Shimla reserved Lok Sabha seat. Perhaps not so surprising given that the state has 1.6 lakh ex-servicemen and over 62,000 serving personnel, with Shimla alone having over 10,000 ex-servicemen (total electorate 11,53,363 as per 2014 figures). Shimla parliamentary constituency is comprised of 17 assembly segments across three districts: Shimla, Solan and Sirmaur. Retired Col Dhani Ram Shandil of the Congress is pitted against former air force senior non-commissioned officer Suresh Kashyap of BJP, both two-time sitting MLAs and belonging to the Koli community. BJP…

A high profile constituency situated within Kolkata, Jadavpur has historically seen political heavyweights, educationists, performing artists and even the current chief minister Mamata Banerjee contesting the seat. Once considered a Left bastion, it saw the first upset in 1984, when CPM veteran Somnath Chatterjee was defeated by Mamata Banerjee, then representing the Indian National Congress. While the Communist Party did wrest the seat back in 1989, from 1996 onwards, the Trinamool Congress (initially with the INC, and thereafter as a registered party itself) won it for three consecutive terms. There was a reversal of fortunes for the 14th Lok Sabha…

Kolkata Dakshin of West Bengal is a high profile constituency, currently held by Subrata Bakshi of All India Trinamool Congress (AITC). In the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, Subrata Bakshi beat nearest rival Tathagata Roy of the BJP by winning a whopping majority of the votes cast in this constituency. This time, the main candidates in the Kolkata Dakshin constituency are Mala Roy of AITC, Nandini Mukherjee of CPI(M) and Chandra Kumar Bose of BJP. Kolkata Dakshin is one of those constituencies that record very high voter turnout in the Lok Sabha elections. In 2014, the constituency witnessed a 69.3% voter…

The silly season is upon us. It is an endless cycle that repeats every few years. It is the season when we, the people of India, get breathless with excitement: “You must vote! It is the sacred duty of every citizen in a democracy to vote.” “If you don’t vote, then you are not a patriotic citizen, and you lose your right to have a public voice.” “Your vote is important. The person / party that you elect will frame policies that will determine the future of our country.” It is the season when we pull out from the dusty…