Governance

Large number of duplicate entries in electoral rolls means lack of truthfulness in statistical observations, and consequent rhetorical statements like "people in cities don't vote." When people say that turnout % in an election is low in Bengaluru, that calculation is based on electoral rolls bloated with duplicate entries and illegal entries like those of dead voters. For the past six years, every time the CEO Karnataka published the electoral rolls, I have been reporting the counts of suspected duplicate entries by category. Whereas the occurrences of duplicate entries have reduced over the years, a lot of duplicate records remain…

Nalapada Ahamad Haris, Member of Legislative Assembly from Shantinagar, has been in news for all wrong reasons recently, due to the controversy related to his son. Going by media reports, he is in the danger of losing the Indian National Congress (INC) ticket this time, to contest from Shantinagar. Haris has represented the constituency for last 10 years. Citizen Matters had interviewed him during his campaign in 2013 to understand his vision for the constituency. Since the term has ended, we went back to him, to understand how he spent last five years, what he could do and could not…

☛ Who is winning? How did Bengaluru vote? [Live Results]  Candidate list, profiles, polling booth info and more Anekal * Bangalore South * Basavanagudi * Bommanahalli * BTM Layout * Byatrayanapura *  CV Raman Nagar * Chickpet * Chamaraj Nagar * Dasarahalli * Gandhi Nagar * Govindarajnagar * Hebbal * Jayanagar * K R Puram * Mahadevapura * Mahalakshmi Layout * Malleshwaram * Padmanabha Nagar * Pulikeshi Nagar * Rajarajeshwarinagar * Rajaji Nagar * Sarvagnanagar * Shantinagar * Shivaji Nagar * Vijay Nagar * Yelahanka * Yeshwanthpur   MLA Profiles Bangalore South MLA M KrishnappaBTM Layout: Ramalinga ReddyByatarayanapura: Krishna ByregowdaChamarajpet: Zameer Ahmed KhanChickpet: RV DevrajDasarahalli: MunirajuGandhinagar: Dinesh Gundu…

Wearing a plain school uniform, holding a banner in one hand and a lunch bag in the other, a young lad marched on the streets of Padur last year. Apart from the words on the banner -- ‘Kudiyai Vidu, Padikka Vidu’ (Give up liquor, let us study), it is the steely determination of the eight-year-old boy, A Aakaash, that caught everyone’s attention and spirited the anti-TASMAC agitation at Padur, a small hamlet on Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR). Toys or clothes do not interest Aakaash. His worries belie his age. When a liquor shop in an inappropriate place needs removal or…

Electoral Rolls after the Summary Revisions have been published on 28 Feb 2018. However there is a last chance for citizens to register as voters. One can submit applications till 14th April, 2018. The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka is organising a mass voter registration drive on Sunday 8th April, between 10 AM to 5 PM owing to many complaints by citizens regarding the non-inclusion in mother rolls. All booth level officers (BLO) will be stationed at the respective polling booths to receive applications of the residuary voters.  This is the last chance for people to get registered…

On March 27, 2018, the Election Commission (EC) announced the dates of the Karnataka Assembly elections and Code of Conduct came into force. Since then, the police have seized cash, gold, vehicles and myriad freebies meant for distribution to the public by various party members. Be it the money offered by a party to the family of a dead worker, or the tradition of giving money to women who do Arathi, it is covered in the scope of the EC’s Code of Conduct, once the election is announced. Is seizing materials meant for influencing the voter a new thing? No.…

As wintry Bangalore closed in on her, Sheila (name changed) began to plan her daughter’s marriage. But her husband, from whom she had escaped after 20 years of a violent, abusive marriage in Pune, threatened to descend on her and kill both her as well as their daughter. In fear, Sheila almost called off the marriage, but it was a nearby doctor (who wishes to remain anonymous) who helped to stop her. “Don’t cow down. Connect with me, with your neighbours, with the SHO of the nearby police station and be prepared to fight your husband with all of us…

With summer approaching, the beaches in Chennai are expected to have more visitors looking to beat the heat but sadly, given the state of safety measures in these beaches, the safe return of the visitor is entirely up to chance and personal precautions. The lack of adequate safeguards is serious cause for concern among citizens and NGOs alike. A recent case, in which a teen hockey player in Chennai drowned off the Marina, spurred the Madras High Court (MHC) into action. The court directed the state government to install watchtowers and station lifesaving boats on the beach to prevent any…

Aravind Limbavalli, the MLA of Mahadevapura, may not have an easy time when he takes his election campaign to Kasavanahalli. The area which recently saw an illegal building collapse resulting in the death of five people is reeling under a plethora of problems. Having had enough, on March 10th, more than 1500 members of 28 RWAs who are part of the Kasavanahalli Development Forum, took out a silent protest and made 2 km long human chain against official apathy towards the various civic problems in the area that has even resulted in deaths as well. It is a little difficult…

For slum dwellers evicted from the banks of the Adyar and Cooum rivers in Chennai, currently residing in Perumbakkam, access to food rations under the Public Distribution System (PDS) is proving to be one arduous process. In addition to lack of educational facilities for children and infrastructural inadequacies highlighted in earlier articles in Citizen Matters Chennai, severe lapses in the functioning of the government-organised PDS, leading to insufficient essential commodities that families are dependent on, have also come to light. Inadequate numbers of PDS centres For the estimated number of 7600 families in Perumbakkam, there is only one PDS centre,…