GENRE: In Focus

Dogs trying to figure out the source of stinking meat on Railway Parallel Road, Malleshwaram. Some residents of Malleshwaram in Bengaluru noticed that there was a foul smell in the air one fine morning, after the first rains. They saw many bags lying around near the railway area on 11th main road. When they checked the bags, there was animal waste dumped by unknown persons, rotting and causing the smell. When they enquired with city administration, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials on how to dispose animal waste, the answer they got was shocking: BBMP does not have a proper…

Voters have given their verdict. BJP has once again made a clean sweep in Bengaluru, repeating the 2009 Parliamentary election pattern. However, there are some differences this time. We take a look at the numbers: Bangalore South Ananth Kumar won the seat for the sixth time comfortably, with a margin of over 2.2 lakhs (56.9% of total polled votes). Nandan Nilekani got a sizeable number of votes (36.4% of the total polled votes), but it wasn’t enough to propel him to victory. The takeaway is this: The competition was fierce and limited to BJP and Congress, with very few votes…

As the city gears up to welcome new Members of Parliament, we take a peek at the statistics and poll predictions to see how has Bangalore voted in the past, and who might win the race in Bangalore this time. Our focus is on the three urban constituencies - Bangalore South, North and Central. 2009 - the honeymoon effect In 2009, the state was being governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the scams hadn’t hit the government yet. Bangalore’s 28 constituencies had 18 BJP MLAs. The sense of euphoria and what the experts call “the honeymoon effect” swept…

Voting percentage for Bangalore was 56.47, 55.7 and 55.69 for Bengaluru North, Central and South respectively, while the state average was 67.28%, in parliamentary elections. What does this project? While everybody is cribbing about Bangalore’s voter percentage and “urban voters’ apathy,” it may not be what it looks like. For example, have you seen anyone around you who did not vote? If not, who are these 44 people out of 100 who did not vote in Bangalore? Don’t you think there is more to the voting percentage story? In 2010, Citizen Matters had written about the reality behind voter turnout…

It is hard to miss the election talk that has permeated through every thread of the society. At the corner shop, during the auto ride to the market, at the school gates, waiting in line to buy milk, paying off the parking guy at the beach – the elections and what it means to Chennai life is the 'trending' topic now. So what do the people of Chennai want from their leaders? There is a general air of discontentment that is widely prevalent, a feeling of “meh! As if anything's going to change!” that is common to Chennaivasis from across…

Bangalore Rural - Candidates D K Suresh - INC (incumbent MP) Age – 47 Education – PUC Businessman, brother of state minister D K Shivakumar Has 7 Cases including encroachment of forest land Assets – Rs 85.73 Crores. Click for ADR data. 9845029142 / dksuresh18@gmail.com Has set 100 RO water plants in the constituency. Won in bypolls held in Bangalore Rural last year Short profile: Click here Scams: Granite scam, illegal site,Complaint by a citizen: Click here R Prabhakar Reddy - JD(S) Age – 43 Education - BSc Realtor. Assets – 224 Crores, making him the second richest candidate in…

You are going to vote for a candidate as your MP for the next five years; this might not be a one-minute decision if you have an open mind and are willing to compare the candidates. This compilation is meant to help get all the info for your own comparison in one place, so that you spend less time searching. Bangalore North has around 22 lakh voters and covers the assembly constituency areas of Bytarayanapura, Dasarahalli, Hebbal, K.R.Puram, Mahalakshmi Layout, Malleshwaram, Pulakeshinagar and Yeshwanthpur. Affidavit comparisons: No criminal cases against major candidates in Bangalore North ADR affidavit analysis: Click here…

The JD(S) manifesto starts off with a note that says that JD(S)’ contributions to the city of Bengaluru have not been small and for the next 5 pages goes on to enlist the contributions that H D Deve Gowda and H D Kumaraswamy have made. Only then does it move on to its plans for the city.  The key points in the manifesto are as follows: Tackling of Corruption in Governance: Lokayukta, land transactions to be made transparent, change in licensing system, citizen involvement in supervising governance Creation of Metropolitan Planning Committee: To manage Bangalore and regulate the growth of…

Five-time MP from Bangalore South has an overall performance score of 6.7 against the national average of 7.5. Old promises and a status check Last time around before the electorate voted him in for the 5th time many promises were made. His priorities according to his responses to Smart Vote: * Priorities of your constituency? World class public transport system; dedicated power generation and distribution system; augmentation of drinking water supply; clean, green environment; revamping of entire drainage system; rejuvenating three lost rivers of Bangalore * How do you plan to address these issues in Parliament? Already pushed circular railway…

This is for those who are curious to know what the MPs of Bengaluru did in Parliament. Asking questions is the privilege of an MP, which could be used to obtain useful information by the government. One of the main duties of an MP towards his/her constituency is to participate in debates and ask questions, of relevance to that MPs constituency, state and sometimes from a national point of view. The job of an effective opposition is to make sure that the government does it’s job and in this regard, questions are are effective tool. Questions are mainly of two…