Governance

The National  Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 1266 out of 1279 candidates who are contesting the Lok Sabha Phase I. Out of the 1266 the candidates, 213 (17%) have declared criminal cases against themselves. 146 candidates have records of serious criminal cases, out of which 10 have declared cases related to murder. 401 of them are crorepati candidates. There are 13 candidates who have not been analysed due to unavailability of their properly scanned and complete affidavits, at the time of making this report. Criminal background   213(17%) out of 1266…

A second time MP, Dr Naramalli Sivaprasad is a versatile personality. A theatre-artist, actor, film producer and two-time MP from the Chittoor Constituency, Sivaprasad is known for dressing up as various characters in Parliament to draw attention to issues. Dressed on various occasions as characters as diverse as Adolf Hitler, Chatrapathi Shivaji and MG Ramachandran, the MP staged protests demanding special packages for Andhra Pradesh. While his appearances as a theatre artist have hogged headlines, his recorded attendance and engagement as Member of Parliament on the floor of the House leave much to be desired.  In the 2014 elections, Sivaprasad…

Dr Naramalli Sivaprasad, two-time Member of Parliament from Chittoor constituency is seeking a third term. A theatre artist turned politician, Dr Siva Prasad of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is more famous for his costumes and theatrics in Parliament, as he has been seen dressed up as various mythological and historical characters. His whirlwind campaign across Chittoor district drew a significant crowd, which both applauded and criticised his theatrics in Parliament. At the end of one such crowd pulling campaign, we met MP Sivaprasad for a chat on his plans for Chittoor city and where he wants to see it…

Bandaru Dattatreya is an Indian politician who has been a Member of the Lok Sabha for Secunderabad since 2014. He belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a party that he joined in 1980. Dattatreya was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Secunderabad constituency in 1991. In 1999, Dattatreya was elected to the Lok Sabha for a third time. Between 1999 and 2001, he served as Union MoS for Urban Development in the third Vajpayee ministry. From 2001 to 2003, he served as Union MoS for Railways. In 2003, he was again given the Urban Development portfolio. In May…

The two-time Lok Sabha MP representing Bengaluru Central constituency, P C Mohan from the BJP has quite a long history in politics. He was the MLA of Chickpet assembly constituency for two terms, from 1999 to 2008. He got elected as MP in the 15th (2009) and 16th (2014) Lok Sabha elections from Bengaluru Central. In 2014, Mohan got 51.85 percent of the 10,74,602 votes cast in Bengaluru Central constituency. He defeated his nearest rival, Rizwan Arshad of the INC, by more than 1,37,500 votes. In the 2009 elections, his tally had exceeded that of H T Sangliana from INC, by…

T G Venkatesh Babu of the AIADMK was elected from Chennai North constituency as a first time MP in 2014.  In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Venkatesh Babu defeated Giri Rajan (DMK) by 99,704 votes. The constituency, with 1422392 voters, had 64.01% voter turnout in the 2014 elections, of which Venkatesh attained 44.06% votes.  T G Venkatesh Babu had risen through the ranks in the AIADMK party to secure a seat in the 16th Lok Sabha. A real estate businessman, he was the first AIADMK representative elected from the Chennai North constituency, which had been a DMK bastion through the…

The ex-chief minister of Karnataka, D V Sadananda Gowda, is preparing to contest from a parliamentary constituency for the fourth time. Gowda is contesting from Bangalore North, the same constituency that had elected him in 2014. The last five years of Gowda’s political journey have been spent mostly in Delhi. A 2013 profile of Sadananda Gowda by Citizen Matters throws more light on his rise within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka. In 2014, Bengaluru North constituency had over 24 lakh voters, of whom over 13.5 lakh came out to vote. Gowda won from this constituency for the first…

Chennai South Parliamentary constituency comprises six assembly constituencies: Mylapore, Saidapet, Virugambakkam, Velachery, Sholinganallur and Theagaraya Nagar. It is a diverse constituency, with many contrasts: it has high-profile localities such as Sholinganallur, the IT hub of the state and lower socio-economic localities such as Nochikuppam in Mylapore assembly constituency. A total of 40 candidates are contesting from various political parties and as independents from Chennai South. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has rejected 27 applications for the constituency, while two of them withdrew after filing the nominations. According to the ECI website, the constituency has a total of 19,73315 voters:…

Congress President, Rahul Gandhi tweeted on Monday that he would make mayoral elections direct, since good leaders are needed to build smart cities. The Congress party has been sharing its key features on social media. The tweet seems like another promise in the direction of smooth urban governance. Real smart cities are built by good leaders. To improve quality of life in our cities we will move to directly elected Mayors with 5 yr terms & elected councils. Administration will be run by multidisciplinary teams of specialists & experts accountable to the Mayor & council. — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April…

Gospel of Matthew 12:25, KJV:25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto him, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. The polling booth where you cast your vote, corresponds to a specific geographic area called a ‘part’. Each parliamentary and assembly constituency is divided into several parts, and the structure of a part is the same for both. A part should be formed in a way that the polling booth is within a walkable distance of two kilometres for all voters. For example, a booth in…