Governance

This article was originally published in the Jan 15-21, 1995 issue of The Sunday Observer. The Indian National Congress that ruled the state then had a tumultuous time with three chief ministers, Veerendra Patil, S.Bangarappa and M. Veerappa Moily ruling the state. In the elections held in 1994 December, Janata Dal won and H D Devegowda became the Chief Minister. The recent outcome of the Karnataka Assembly elections in which the ruling party Indian National Congress (INC) was thrown out and the Janata Dal (JD) was brought back to power has been interpreted (and hailed) as an indication of –…

Ever since the Karnataka Assembly Elections results were announced on May 15, the State has seen high political drama about who would form the next government. With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) short of nine votes for simple majority on the floor of the House, where it has to prove its majority on May 19th, every vote becomes important. Though the Governor of Karnataka gave Yeddyurappa 15 days to prove his majority, the Supreme Court stepped in on May 18th and directed a floor test for the BJP to prove their majority on Saturday reducing the grace period awarded. Among…

A high-decibel campaign followed by exit poll bets and now onto resort drama? Political pundits exclaimed it was a “waveless” election and it was hard to predict who would win. Exit polls predicted both ways, though the majority predicted a small lead for the BJP. Bettings favoured the BJP, while stock market rallied predicting a BJP victory. But what did this election mean to the citizens of Bengaluru? On one hand you had Siddaramaiah who had launched a number of welfare schemes targeting the poor and on the other side, a prime minister seen as a decisive ruler with bold…

26 constituencies in Bengaluru went to poll on May 12th, and here are the winners. First, some data on the trends: There are no women.Kelachandra Joseph George, 68, from Sarvagnanagar is the oldest MLA.Zameer Ahmed Khan, 51, an 8th pass and six other candidates who have mentioned schooling in their education qualification have an average net asset of 80 crores. Five other MLA's (Shivanna B, Ravi Subramanya LA, Krishna Byre Gowda, Dinesh Gundu Rao and N A Harris) with post graduate degrees have an average net worth of 43 crores. The average net assets of all the 26 MLAs is 53 crore, and the…

So we are all finally done with exercising our franchise on Saturday, 12th May, and been through the truly exhilarating ballot counting process and the results. A good to time to pause and reflect on the last few weeks and the run up to the assembly elections. My constituency Mahadevapura saw candidates from the top three parties (INC, BJP, JDS), many other smaller parties (APP, Swaraj, et al) and individuals in the fray. We have many issues in the constituency which is home to many IT parks, the world famous frothing Bellandur Lake, the choc-a-bloc outer ring road and a…

Elections held in 222 of the 224 assembly constituencies in Karnataka on May 12, 2018. https://opencity.in/data/karnataka-assembly-elections-2018-all-state-mla-winners-list-live-update Assembly wise results: Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018, All State MLA Winners List

Elections were held for 222 out of 224 assembly constituencies in Karnataka on May 12, 2018. Keep yourself updated on the results for Bengaluru region! Who is winning in the state? Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018, All State MLA Winners List Bangalore region results: Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018, Bengaluru City MLA Winners List Click here to see results for Karnataka state. Bengaluru Results - 2013 Bengaluru Results - 2018 Bengaluru Voter Turnout Percentages Map - 2018

Update: The article was updated to reflect the correct last date for voter registration. It was mentioned as May 22, but it is in fact May 15, and the applications are processed by May 22. The Election Commission of India on May 12, 2018, has issued directions to conduct elections to the Karnataka Legislative Council, for the period which ends on 21.6.2018 from the Teachers’ and Graduates’ Constituencies as below: Name of Constituency No. of members to be elected Karnataka South East Teachers’ 1 Karnataka South Teachers’ 1 Karnataka South West Teachers’ 1 Karnataka South West Graduates’ 1 Bangalore Graduates’…

My alarm goes off at six, and I roll out of bed excited because today is the first time I get to cast my vote. Two weeks ago, I applied for a voter’s id. My father had assured me that I would get mine soon because elections were around the corner. Sure enough, I got mine three days before the elections, in sharp contrast to friends and neighbours for whom it had taken months when they had applied. Since we had plans to go to our hometown (Nagamangala, Mandya district), we started for the polling booth at 7 AM. Along…

Low voter turnout shames India's IT city Bangalore states NDTV and others nod in agreements. The authorities, politicians, noted citizens, all are aflame criticising the citizens for not participating in the elections. Newspaper have used highly derogatory phrases - especially Kannada newspapers - displaying cheap journalism and reporting wrong data. Real voter turnout percentage in Bengaluru has to be more than 70%. If it was to be larger than this with the shamefully poor electoral roll management, we should have grave concerns about illegal votes and rigging. Crude Numbers First In January 2018, District Electoral Officer, Bangalore, (Commissioner, BBMP) published…