ELECTIONS

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…

Mysore, parliamentary constituency number 21, comprises eight assembly constituencies: Madikeri (208), Virajpet (209), Piriyapatna (210), Hunsur (212), Chamundeshwari (215), Krishnaraja (216), Chamaraja (217), and Narasimharaja (218). Madikeri and Virajpet are the most recent entrants in this parliamentary constituency which, till the 2007 delimitation process, consisted of only the other six assembly constituencies. From 1957 onwards, and for a long time, Mysore sent a member of the INC to represent its people in the Parliament. Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, a scion of the erstwhile royal family of Mysore, was one of them. BJP made inroads into this seat in 1998 when CH…

Thiruvallur Parliamentary constituency is comprised of six assembly constituencies -- Madhavaram, Poonamalle, Avadi, Ponneri, Gummidipoondi and Thiruvallur. Once part of the Sriperumbudur constituency, Thiruvallur was carved out as a separate constituency in 2008 after delimitation. A total of 20 candidates are contesting from various political parties and as independent candidates from Chennai South. The Election Commission of India has rejected 17 applications for the constituency, while two of them withdrew after filing the nominations.  According to the election commission of India’s website, the constituency has a total of 1946242 voters: 961864 male, 984032 female and 346 transgenders. Thiruvallur shares its…

Nalin Kumar Kateel is a second-time Lok Sabha MP who represents Dakshina Kannada parliamentary constituency. He is contesting again from the constituency on a BJP ticket this time. Dakshina Kannada constituency comprises Belthangady, Moodabidri, Mangalore City North (previously Surathkal), Mangalore South (previously Mangalore), Mangalore (previously Ullal), Bantwal, Puttur and Sulia assembly constituencies. Kateel was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 2009, upon defeating Congress representative Janardhan Poojary by 40,420 votes. Prior to this, he was the District General Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Kateel again contested in the general election in 2014, and was re-elected…

This election season, Factly.in has put together a series of videos that seeks to deconstruct various aspects of the massive democratic exercise to make every citizen aware of its history, processes, rules and other relevant information. The second episode breaks down the most important election procedures of voter registration and voting. This is no rocket science and yet it may seem confusing. https://youtu.be/ZPAJfABAksI [This video series is produced by Factly as a part of the YouTube GNI Innovation Funding and has been republished here with permission.]

Finally, the much awaited day is here, when Chennai is all set to choose its representatives in the 17th Lok Sabha. Parliamentary elections this time are distinctive in the fact the median age of the electorate is 27.9 years. For the first time in the history of India, forty-five million young people have become eligible to vote as they turn 18 and have been added to India’s electoral rolls since 2014 (according to ECI data of 2018). Needless to say, therefore, that how India’s young population votes will be one of the major deciding factors in the ongoing elections. Young…

Guwahati, the gateway to the entire Northeast, is not just the most prestigious of Assam’s 14 Lok Sabha seats, but is also seen as an indicator of which way the rest of the North east’s 11 Lok Sabha seats go.  With the state ruled by the BJP, the 2019 Gauhati (as the parliamentary constituency is named) contest, where voting takes place on April 23, is likely to be a closely fought one between two prominent women of the state: film actor and TV personality Bobeeta Sharma, 52 for the Congress and Queen Ojha, 67, former mayor of  the city and…

A G Mourya, retired IPS officer and Makkal Needhi Maiam candidate is contesting from Chennai North parliamentary constituency; rival candidates are DMK’s Dr Kalanidhi Veerasamy and DMDK’s former MLA Alagaapuram R Mohanraj. In a candid interview, A G Mourya, an MCC alumnus and the former Deputy Inspector General of Prisons, says he is confident of winning from the constituency, that had been a hot seat for the DMK for ten consecutive elections before 2014, when the AIADMK won it. Here are excerpts from the interview: How do you feel the transition from being a police officer to a politician? It…

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…

The National Coalition for Inclusive and Sustainable Urbanization, comprised of a group of people across different parts of the country, is involved in exploring questions pertaining to the city and whom the urban is meant for. The Coalition has recently put out a charter, endorsed by 150+ organizations and 2 lakh signatories across 40 cities, that lays out a number of steps that can be taken to make development in cities more inclusive and sustainable, keeping the real ‘Citymakers’ - urban poor and worker groups - and their rights at the centre of discourse and action. Right to Housing and…