GENRE: LN

The Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka (CEO-KA), had published on his website the latest electoral rolls – the version that was effective for this Lok Sabha election. Though the mother roll for this election was published last October, an addition/deletion drive was undertaken afterwards. The rolls with these modifications were published twice - once on 16th January, and the final rolls on 26th March. But the final rolls appeared on the CEO-KA website on 10th April only, leaving little time to respond for those who went missing from the rolls. Additions CEO-KA had advertised widely inviting the citizens to register as…

With just two days to go for Phase 2 of the 17th Lok Sabha Polls, civic campaigns complement the Election Commission of India's back-to-back activities on creating awareness about the right to vote. As part of the Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) activities by the Election Commission, Greater Chennai Corporation has organised various activities such as Parasailing, bike rally and workshops to reach out to the voters. The website of the Chief Electoral officer, Tamil Nadu is filled with awareness videos by eminent film personalities such as Vijay Sethupathi and Vivek. Created by the Election Commission, #MakeYourMarkTN is…

  HC notice to BBMP on white-topping Karnataka High Court has issued a notice to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on a PIL opposing the white-topping of South End Road, from Madhavan Park to Nettakallappa Circle via Nagasandra Circle. The order was passed by a Division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice L Narayana Swamy and Justice P S Dinesh Kumar. The PIL had been filed by A C Chandrashekar Raju and seven other residents of Basavanagudi. They had pleaded that white-topping of roads was being done unscientifically, and that the BBMP had not worked out a scientific mechanism for laying…

Alagaapuram R Mohanraj, contesting from Chennai North Parliamentary constituency on a DMDK ticket, is optimistic: he feels all is well in the constituency. With barely six days left for the constituency to vote in the Lok Sabha elections, Mohanraj is on the streets for more than 13 hours a day, and the success of schemes implemented by former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are a frequent refrain in his campaign speeches. The DMDK is part of the mega alliance with parties such as AIADMK, BJP and PMK. In a freewheeling interview, Mohanraj, a former Salem MLA,…

Chennai Central Parliamentary constituency is comprised of six assembly constituencies -- Villivakkam, Egmore (SC), Harbour, Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni, Thousand Lights and Anna Nagar.   Chennai Central is a constituency of extremes: it has some of the city's richest localities such as Central and Anna Nagar, and within a few metres are the slum pockets of GH quarters and Aminjikarai. There is cultural diversity as well as the constituency sizeable Hindi and Urdu speaking population, apart from Telugus and Malayalis.  It also has a significant Muslim population of over 2 lakhs in Chepauk - Triplicane and Egmore assembly constituencies. Contestants therefore must come…

Vehicle numbers increase in Bengaluru Bengaluru's vehicle numbers has increased to 80 lakhs; with this, the city has overtaken Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai in terms of the number of vehicles. Now Bengaluru is second only to Delhi, which has 1.5 crore vehicles, according to Transport Commissioner V P Ikkeri. Bengaluru's 10,000 km of road length is considerably lower than Delhi 's 30,000 km. The total number of vehicles in Karnataka has now increased to 2.10 crore, Ikkeri said. Since five to six lakh vehicles are added each year to the city, the number of vehicles in the Bengaluru metropolitan area…

A misguided water policy, rapid unfettered urbanisation, lack of vision and a growth model characterized by indiscriminate greed is killing Mumbai and depriving the city of its basic right to quench its thirst. The 1.2 crore residents of the megapolis currently face a 10 percent water cut, effective since November 15, 2018. Mumbai is no stranger to water cuts but the rationing started much earlier this year than in previous years, months before the scorching summers were due to set in. This was to make up for the less rainfall this year. The city received 13.13 million litres of surface…

To address the looming air pollution crisis in Bengaluru, Health & Environment Alliance (HEAL), a leading European non-profit organisation, in collaboration with Global Climate and Health Alliance (GCHA), launched the Healthy Air Coalition on Friday, 5th April, at the St John’s Research Institute (SJRI). SJRI is a key partner of the initiative. According to a study published in the environment journal Lancet Planetary Health, air pollution in India leads to at least 1.2 million premature deaths each year. The 2018 study attributed one in eight deaths that occurred in India in 2017 to poor air quality and exposure to ultra-fine…

With a red and black shawl over her shoulders and a warm smile, Thamizhachi Thangapandian walks the streets of Medavakkam on Tuesday, April 2 2019. She initiates a friendly conversation with the women, tastes the Kara Kuzhambu in one of the houses and listens attentively to their  problems. She assures that she will transform the locality if elected to power. A writer, poet and academician, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) camdidate Thamizhachi Thangapandian is fighting her first Lok Sabha election from Chennai South. She is campaigning vigorously -- both online and offline; her Facebook page is filled with updates about her…

Chennai South Parliamentary constituency comprises six assembly constituencies: Mylapore, Saidapet, Virugambakkam, Velachery, Sholinganallur and Theagaraya Nagar. It is a diverse constituency, with many contrasts: it has high-profile localities such as Sholinganallur, the IT hub of the state and lower socio-economic localities such as Nochikuppam in Mylapore assembly constituency. A total of 40 candidates are contesting from various political parties and as independents from Chennai South. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has rejected 27 applications for the constituency, while two of them withdrew after filing the nominations. According to the ECI website, the constituency has a total of 19,73315 voters:…