ELECTIONS

By-election for Hebbal Legislative Assembly Constituency is just a week’s away. The Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka has announced the date for by-election to Hebbal and two other constituencies. The election for the three constituencies, Hebbal, Bidar and Devadurga, is scheduled for February 13th. The by-election in Hebbal is to fill up the vacant post that was created following the death of MLA Jagadish Kumar last November. As many as 20 candidates are in the fray in the Hebbal constituency. During the last election, the BJP candidate had won the seat. As this by-election is seen as a matter of…

January 25th is observed as National Voters' Day by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Does it include real voters? I doubt. As mentioned in my last blog post, sloganeering and “celebrations” have started on January 14th. Some reality checks on the rolls of Bengaluru Legislative Assemblies, published on January 11th 2016: Was there an exodus in parts of Mahadevpura? ECI rules require District Electoral Officers (DEO) to examine cases of deletions exceeding 2% and additions exceeding 4%. Deletion is more than 2% in 152 parts. Top 7 of them are from Mahadevapura constituency, with more than 20% deletions each. 266…

To view map, see: http://bl.ocks.org/anonymous/raw/9c840f92880646cba8901cb90c861eef Thyagaraya Nagar is one of the busiest commercial hubs in Chennai. It has a diverse mix of residential complexes, big and small commercial establishments, educational institutions and entertainment facilities. The constituency has voted against the winning party in five assembly elections since 1962, and is hence known for voting against the trend. The AIADMK has been in power since 2006. Before that, the Tamil Maanila Congress was elected here in 1996 and the DMK in 2001. T Nagar constituency comprises the wards Vadapalani (West), Vadapalani (East), Kalaivanar Nagar, Navalar Nedunchezian Nagar (East), Navalar Nedunchezian Nagar (West),…

Women corporators have outnumbered men in the new BBMP council. Pic: Akshatha M “As a teacher, I have always practised discipline, cleanliness and hygiene. This does not satisfy me enough, I want to render my service across Bengaluru. Hold the vision, trust the process.” These were the words of an aspiring corporator candidate who filled our Candidate Survey form, before BBMP elections. A B A-Tch graduate, she appeared to be a confident and strong woman in the candidate information form. The form was quite impressively filled. Now she has won the election and is a corporator. With a hope to…

Amidst speculation over the alliance in Mayoral election, the Congress and JD(S) have successfully entered into coalition to come to power in the BBMP. Third time Congress Corporator B N Manjunath Reddy from Madivala ward was elected as the Bengaluru Mayor and JDS’s first time corporator S P Hemalatha from Vrishabhavathi ward was elected as  the Deputy Mayor, on Friday. In the election that was conducted at BBMP Council hall amidst tight police security, Regional Commissioner M V Jayanthi declared Manjunath Reddy as the elected Mayor. Of the 260 councillors including elected corporators, MLAs, MLCs and MPs, 131 members voted…

Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) wrote to the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi congratulating his party for winning 100 seats with 40% of votes in the recently concluded BBMP elections.  In the letter, B.PAC has urged the BJP corporators, who may soon take the oath of office, to take another oath publicly, "Na Khaoonga, Na Khane Dunga", following the public assurance given to the citizens of India by the Prime Minister.  This will ensure that elected BJP corporators give a public commitment to assure corruption-free governance during their term in their office, and focus on delivering transparent and citizen-centric governance at…

It is less than a week since Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the BBMP election. It was a bit of a puzzle to many when Indian National Congress (INC) leaders announced that they were ready to sit in opposition. Anyway BJP has “won” the election. Is there any choice for INC other than sitting in opposition? Of course yes. INC has an option. And it comes from the nature of the council, and the number of seats BJP got this time, which have not actually given a full majority as far as the Council is concerned. BBMP Council is not…

BBMP elections are over, but Mayoral elections are still pending. While many corporators are holed up in resorts and Congress and JDS seem to have struck an alliance, the BBMP Commissioner and regional district commissioner are preparing for mayoral elections. Here is the full list of voters eligible to vote in mayoral elections, and will play an important role on which party will get the mayor's post in Bengaluru. The list has been prepared by the BBMP Commissioner. It includes the names of nominated MLCs, though at this point, it is not clear whether can be included or not in…

Collage: Akshatha M Former mayor Shantha Kumari N, who owned five properties in 2011, is now the owner of 15 houses and sites. L Srinivas who has been re-elected as the corporator from Kumaraswamy Layout, had a total asset of Rs 13.37 crore way back in 2011. Now value of his assets is Rs 29.13 crore. Quite a growth in four years! Voters of Bengaluru have re-elected 34 ex-corporators this time. A comparison of the declared assets of these 34 re-elected corporators shows that the assets of most of the corporators have increased in last five years. Citizen Matters did…