Governance

Come May 19th, it will be fauji versus fauji for the first time ever in the Shimla reserved Lok Sabha seat. Perhaps not so surprising given that the state has 1.6 lakh ex-servicemen and over 62,000 serving personnel, with Shimla alone having over 10,000 ex-servicemen (total electorate 11,53,363 as per 2014 figures). Shimla parliamentary constituency is comprised of 17 assembly segments across three districts: Shimla, Solan and Sirmaur. Retired Col Dhani Ram Shandil of the Congress is pitted against former air force senior non-commissioned officer Suresh Kashyap of BJP, both two-time sitting MLAs and belonging to the Koli community. BJP…

A high profile constituency situated within Kolkata, Jadavpur has historically seen political heavyweights, educationists, performing artists and even the current chief minister Mamata Banerjee contesting the seat. Once considered a Left bastion, it saw the first upset in 1984, when CPM veteran Somnath Chatterjee was defeated by Mamata Banerjee, then representing the Indian National Congress. While the Communist Party did wrest the seat back in 1989, from 1996 onwards, the Trinamool Congress (initially with the INC, and thereafter as a registered party itself) won it for three consecutive terms. There was a reversal of fortunes for the 14th Lok Sabha…

Kolkata Dakshin of West Bengal is a high profile constituency, currently held by Subrata Bakshi of All India Trinamool Congress (AITC). In the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, Subrata Bakshi beat nearest rival Tathagata Roy of the BJP by winning a whopping majority of the votes cast in this constituency. This time, the main candidates in the Kolkata Dakshin constituency are Mala Roy of AITC, Nandini Mukherjee of CPI(M) and Chandra Kumar Bose of BJP. Kolkata Dakshin is one of those constituencies that record very high voter turnout in the Lok Sabha elections. In 2014, the constituency witnessed a 69.3% voter…

In 2009, Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar came to power on a Trinamool Congress ticket from the Barasat Lok Sabha constituency near Kolkata. Since then the 60-year-old physician has retained her MP seat, winning by a margin of 1,73,141 votes in the 2014 General Elections. The incumbent MP is in the poll fray again from Barasat. Parliamentary constituency No. 17, Barasat, saw a change in its constituent assembly segments in the 2009 elections, following the orders of the Delimitation Commission; as per these orders, the satellite township of New Town, which has been developed as a special urban IT and corporate…

One of the most prestigious constituencies of Kolkata, Jadavpur has always seen parties fielding popular leaders and party heavyweights for this Lok Sabha constituency. This was the very place from where the current West Bengal chief minister, Mamata Banerjee defeated Somnath Chatterjee,  stalwart of the CPI(M), in 1984. Indeed, the constituency has seen many high profile and celebrated MPs, the most recent being Harvard historian Sugato Bose, who won the seat in 2014. In the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Mamata Banerjee surprised everyone by declaring that local Tollywood star, Mimi Chakraborty would get the much coveted…

On a sweltering Saturday afternoon, a little more than a dozen men, armed with red flags in hand, towing a middle-aged lady with inconspicuous features quietly walk into a gated housing society in the heart of Kasba, a densely populated residential neighbourhood in East Kolkata. Minutes later, the residents hear a firm female voice that promises a better tomorrow devoid of anarchy and lumpen raj. A face here and a face there, slowly but gradually curious onlookers from windows and balconies start peeping down to catch the show. The lady, with a microphone in one hand (one of her party…

Bengaluru is known for its high levels of citizen activism, but low level of citizen participation in elections, the most important instrument of democracy. The trend continued this Lok Sabha election too. However, some apartment societies did a lot of work to buck this trend and improve the voter turnout. One such society was ours - Prestige Shantiniketan in Whitefield. With 3000 flats, 12,000 residents and more than 2000 registered voters, we are a powerhouse in terms of voter numbers, and we did everything to make sure we had a high voter turnout this election. To start with, we had…

It will be yet another test for incumbent MP and BJP candidate Kirron Kher when Chandigarh votes on May 19th. Actor turned politician Kher found success late in life. Moving to Mumbai from Chandigarh in 1979 with her then businessman husband, the dimpled actress was unable to get a break in Bollywood’s fickle world. It was only after her marriage to Anupam Kher in 1985 that she found acceptance among movie producers. This hard-earned success was put to test in 2014, when the BJP chose her for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat over the claims of local party leaders. A…

Chandni Chowk Parliamentary constituency comprises 10 assembly constituencies: Adarsh Nagar, Shalimar Bagh, Shakur Basti, Tri Nagar, Wazirpur, Model Town, Sadar Bazar, Chandni Chowk, Matia Mahal and Ballimaran. The constituency came into existence in its current form after a delimitation exercise in 1993 and 2008. So far, two Lok Sabha elections held in 2009 and 2014 have seen winners from the Congress and BJP respectively.   A total of 26 candidates are contesting from political parties and as independents from Chandni Chowk. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has rejected  29 applications for the constituency for various reasons. According to the…

Dr. Harsh Vardhan represents Chandni Chowk in Delhi as a Member of Parliament besides being the incumbent minister at the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Ministry of Earth Sciences in the BJP-led NDA government. His political journey started in 1992 when he was elected as member of Delhi State Assembly for the first time. He was contesting from the Krishna Nagar constituency. He has been re-elected from the same constituency four times - 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2013. He has been a minister at the Health Ministry, Law Ministry and Education…