INFORMATIVE

Bangalore Central is a rather new Lok Sabha constituency carved out in 2008, as part of 'delimitation'. It was created out of the former Bangalore North and Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituencies. Bangalore Central comprises eight assembly constituencies - Rajajinagar, Chamrajpet, Gandhinagar, Shivajinagar, Shantinagar, Sarvagnanagar, CV Raman Nagar and Mahadevpaura. In the 2018 assembly election, Congress had won five of these constituencies - Sarvagnanagar, Shivajinagar, Shanthinagar, Gandhinagar and Chamarajpet. BJP had won the other three - CV Raman Nagar, Rajajinagar and Mahadevapura. This was a step up for the Congress, which had won only four seats in the 2013 assembly…

Vatal Nagaraj, known for his hardline pro-Kannada stand, is contesting from Bangalore South constituency this election. Nagaraj is contesting in the ticket of his party, the Kannada Chalavali Vatal Paksha. Hailing from Vatala in Mysore district, Nagaraj had started his political career in Bengaluru as a corporator in 1964. He had been elected thrice as MLA from the Chamarajanagar assembly constituency, in 1989, 1994 and 2004. He had contested in the 2009 Lok Sabha election from Bangalore South constituency itself, but had lost to sitting MP Ananth Kumar. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Nagaraj had supported Congress candidates. Nagaraj…

Krishna Byre Gowda, Karnakata's Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR), is the Congress candidate from Bangalore North parliamentary constituency. Gowda, a second-generation politician, was first elected to the state Assembly in 2003, and was one of its youngest members at the age of 30. He was elected from Vemagal, which had fallen vacant after the death of his father Byre Gowda, a five-time MLA from the constituency. Gowda joined the Congress in 2004, and won the constituency again. In 2007, he was elected the President of the Karnataka Youth Congress Committee. In 2008, he contested and won from…

With the Lok Sabha elections right around the corner, Citizen Matters caught up with Prashanth Goutham of Arappor Iyakkam. In this freewheeling discussion with Meenakshi Ramesh, Prashanth details the roles and responsibilities of an MP and what voters must look for in deciding on the ideal candidate. https://youtu.be/Zm0bKsPxqIE [Meenakshi Ramesh anchors the Chennai edition of Citizen Matters and is actively involved in many civic initiatives. She can be reached at meenakshi@citizenmatters.in]

Bangalore North (parliamentary constituency number 24) comprises eight assembly constituencies - KR Pura, Byatarayanapura, Yeshwanthapura, Dasarahalli, Mahalakshmi Layout, Malleshwaram, Hebbal and Pulakeshinagar. Till 2004, this constituency was the stronghold of the Congress. C K Jaffer Sharief of INC had been elected from here to the Lok Sabha seven times (1977-1996 and 1998-2004), and Kengal Hanumanthaiya thrice before him (1962-1977). But since 2004, in the past three elections, BJP has won from here. Bangalore North was one of the nine constituencies in Mysore state in 1951, when the first general elections were held in India. N Keshava Iyengar from the INC…

Actor and film personality Prakash Raj is contesting from Bangalore Central constituency as an independent candidate. He will be facing two-term BJP MP P C Mohan, Congress candidate and MLC Rizwan Arshad, and 19 other candidates. Prakash Raj grew up in Shanthi Nagar, near the centre of the city. Alongside a long career in theatre and films, he had also been involved in social service, having adopted villages and schools. Prakash says he now wants to be the “catalyst of change for a larger section of society than just the one-off village or school.” While he is no stranger to…

Chennai North Parliamentary constituency comprises six assembly constituencies:  Royapuram, Kolathur, Thiruvottiyur, Perambur, Thiru. Vi. Ka. Nagar, Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar.  North Chennai has long faced neglect from the political establishment in the state as well as the centre, with development in terms of infrastructure and basic amenities found wanting in the predominantly working class areas that comprise the constituency. A total of 23 candidates are contesting from various political parties and as independents from Chennai North. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has rejected 32 applications for the constituency for various reasons. According to the ECI website, the constituency has a…

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…

Bangalore South comprises eight assembly constituencies - Basavanagudi, Bommanahalli, BTM Layout, Chickpet, Govindarajanagar, Jayanagar, Padmanabhanagar and Vijayanagar. The constituency is considered largely conservative and traditional, more so areas like Jayanagar and Basavanagudi. But it also has a fairly large migrant population, many of whom work in the city’s IT sector, in areas like BTM Layout and Bommanahalli. The constituency has been a BJP stronghold for long. Find which wards comes under the Bangalore South parliamentary constituency. According to the website of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Karnataka, as of 16th January, the constituency had 21,66,445 voters - 11,29,388 male, 10,36,718…

Senior politician and Rajya Sabha MP B K Hari Prasad is the Congress candidate for Bangalore South. He was considered a surprise candidate in the constituency where BJP was expected to field Tejaswini Ananth, wife of late MP Ananth Kumar. However, instead of Tejaswini, BJP has also fielded a surprise candidate, 28-year-old Tejasvi Surya, here. A resident of Malleshwaram, Hari Prasad has been a member of the Rajya Sabha four times - 1990-1996, 2004-2010, 2013-2014 (elected after Anil Lad of INC resigned, to take charge as Bellary MLA), and 2014-present. In 1999, Hari Prasad had contested from Bangalore South against…