Governance

I thought it would be a very daunting task to seek an interview with Narendra Babu, three times MLA, Congress, from Rajajinagar, and currently the MLA from the newly carved constituency, Mahalakshmi Layout. So when I called on his mobile, his friendly response and immediate ‘yes' shattered the myth of hard-to-get politicians. Narendra Babu (left) speaking to citizens (Pic courtesy: Narendra Babu) His residence-cum-office turned out to be a laid back middle class home with his office on the first floor. A tulsi plant and a few other flowering shrubs completed the picture. The office itself was a simple hall…

Bangalore One (B1), a Karnataka government's e-governance initiative, has been serving citizens since 2005. This ‘One-stop-shop' facility that is open 24x7 (mini centres are open from 8 AM to 8 PM) aims to redefine public service under one roof. Here's a round up of available services at the B1 centres. Services offered by Bangalore One (pic: Vaishnavi Vittal) These centres allow you to pay your BSNL telephone billsas well as Spice, Airtel, Tata Indicom, Cell One and Reliance phone bills. Bills can be paid through cash, cheque or DD. You can also pay your water bills to BWSSB and electricity…

The votes are in. The leaders have been chosen. The people of Bengaluru have given their verdict on who is to represent them in Parliament. The lotus blooms in Bengaluru, said one TV channel. UPA sweeps, said another. Singh is King, Sonia is Queen, said one more. History has been created, said yet another. As the UPA is all smiles and ready to form the next government, they have not much reason to smile here in Bengaluru. Bangalore’s voters seem to have thought differently from their compatriots in the rest of the country. In a remarkable twist, for the first…

I voted because I had to vote, though much against my wishes. I live in J.P.Nagar V Phase and I am very sorry to say that there has been no developmental work taken up for this area. Though we do have celebrities living here, there has been no improvement whatsoever for the middle class people living here. Every time I vote because I consider this my fundamental right and would not want anyone to misuse my vote. Who wins is not the matter because we hardly see anyone come back again after the elections are over. I simply do not understand why…

Ours is a family of four adults and two children. We had prepared ID cards for all as per the procedure laid down by the election commission by getting official photos taken at corporation center. We, now, have our Voter ID cards with our photos and other required details. But when I recently checked before the election at the Help Center, we were surprised that our photos are not available in the computer of the Help Center. Again, they took our photos and gave us new ID cards. I really wonder how photos can go missing. Just four days prior…

It was a shame to read that only 42 per cent exercised their vote, inspite of all the propaganda that it is one's duty to vote. In my village of Gedalahalli Kothanur, there was a turn out in huge numbers. We had three centres  to cast our vote and we finished voting within a few minutes. From the news we hear it was the middle class who did not cast their vote. I think they should be penalised in some way. We have a sensible electorate now and by casting our votes, we are making sure we get good governance.⊕

I cast my vote today, for the very first time. For nobody. I decided to use 49-O. If I thought getting an EPIC was an adventure of sorts, the actual voting turned out to be even better. About  two days ago I got to know details about 49-O wherein you can choose to actually cast your vote for noone. You can get some details at http://lawmin.nic.in/ld/subord/cer1.htm and http://www.jaagore.com/issue/readComment.php?id=1538 My polling both was Evershine School in Sarvagnanagar. This comes under the Bangalore Central constituency. I had made up my mind to not vote for anyone. When I told the officers there…

If there is one striking feature to distinguish this election from previous ones, it's the focus on the young voter. From actor Imran Khan to Congress scion Rahul Gandhi, the messages relayed through media adverts and political speeches have all urged India's young voters to stop being apathetic and to come out and “make a difference”. Unfortunately, merely coming out and voting doesn't really indicate that candidates are reflecting your concerns or listening to you. R K Misra, Krishna Byregowda and Prof Rajeev Gowda during the presentation of the youth manifesto at IIMB last Saturday (Pic courtesy: Hemangini Gupta) In…

He is probably one of the few people who voted against the party diktat during the trust vote in Parliament in June 2008. This famous cop helped in the arrest of fake stamp paper racket kingpin Abdul Kareem Telgi and former underworld don Muthappa Rai among others, during his services as the Commissioner of Police, Bangalore City. Films have been made based on his work in the Indian Police Service and he has also appeared in one of them, as himself, playing the role of the Police Commissioner. In the middle of his hectic campaigning schedule and with commandos in…

To find your name in the voter rollCheck the Chief Electoral Officer's site and search for your name in final electoral rolls for the upcoming elections. » Find your name in the Bangalore electoral rolls for Lok Sabha elections 2009. Try various spellings for your name. Try searching by assembly constituency or by pincode. The results show the your name, part no, serial no and age.Other sites like One Billion Votes and Google Lok Sabha Elections portal are also providing search feature. (Note we have not verified the accuracy of their information) You can also see the final rolls (pdf…