ELECTIONS

Citizen Matters Magazine - Vol 1 Issue 7 Dear Readers, Covering the elections anywhere in the world gives journalists a good, close look at the candidates and their campaigns. Here are some slices of our analysis from the Bengaluru contests.First, the debates. Unfortunately, most candidates did not make use of the opportunity to respond as lawmakers, let alone lawmakers with vision. Many serious questions did not invite thoughtful, reasoned answers from the candidates of the major parties.For one question on communal violence, Krishna Byregowda, INC candidate for Bangalore South, mouthed away a textbook response: “Hatred is the source of all…

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…

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…

My colleague and I were all pumped up when we thought of doing an 'election special' coverage. And yes interviewing/ grilling the politicians was amongst the most exciting part of it. We wrapped up most of our other stories and were all geared up to get interview appointments with our MP candidates. Soon we realised it was not as exciting and thrilling as we had imagined as it was hard to get any at the first place. To start with we somehow managed to get a phone number of a close aide of one of the candidates, and after a…

My colleague and I were all pumped up when we thought of doing an 'election special' coverage. And yes interviewing/ grilling the politicians was amongst the most exciting part of it. We wrapped up most of our other stories and were all geared up to get interview appointments with our MP candidates. Soon we realised it was not as exciting and thrilling as we had imagined as it was hard to get any at the first place. To start with we somehow managed to get a phone number of a close aide of one of the candidates, and after a…

Yesterday, hundreds of concerned citizens turned up at the spot where BMRCL proposes to have a Metro station inside Lalbagh itself...and had broken down a part of the Lalbagh wall, and felled several eucalyptus trees. They have not yet received permission to do this, so it was illegal, and citizens also reacted emotionally to their greenery being despoiled in this way.Here's the portion of the wall that was broken down:Several police officers were on duty, and they had the unenviable task of keeping the peace while not antagonizing the citizens. Mr Dawood Khan kept a low profile throughout, though he…

Yesterday, hundreds of concerned citizens turned up at the spot where BMRCL proposes to have a Metro station inside Lalbagh itself...and had broken down a part of the Lalbagh wall, and felled several eucalyptus trees. They have not yet received permission to do this, so it was illegal, and citizens also reacted emotionally to their greenery being despoiled in this way.Here's the portion of the wall that was broken down:Several police officers were on duty, and they had the unenviable task of keeping the peace while not antagonizing the citizens. Mr Dawood Khan kept a low profile throughout, though he…

I have been posting about my less-than-ideal experience with getting my Voter ID (EPIC). When a friend posted a "how-to" process on the Hasiru Usiru egroup, I posted my responses on it, too.Kathyaynin Chamaraj posted it on the CIVIC group, too, and forwarded it to several people. This resulted in two positive things:Someone from Jaagore did email me and listened to what I had to say, and has promised to look into the Jaaagore form and make it work. Hopefully, this will make things easier for other people, even if the process didn't work for me.Mr Elisha Andrew from the…

I have been posting about my less-than-ideal experience with getting my Voter ID (EPIC). When a friend posted a "how-to" process on the Hasiru Usiru egroup, I posted my responses on it, too.Kathyaynin Chamaraj posted it on the CIVIC group, too, and forwarded it to several people. This resulted in two positive things:Someone from Jaagore did email me and listened to what I had to say, and has promised to look into the Jaaagore form and make it work. Hopefully, this will make things easier for other people, even if the process didn't work for me.Mr Elisha Andrew from the…

Here's an email that came in with tips, on how to register for Voter ID, on the Hasiru Usiru egroup, and my responses, comments and suggestions are in blue:The 15th Lok Sabha election is round the corner and it is our duty to go out and vote. The polling will be held on 23rd April in Bangalore. If you have not registered to vote yet, please do so now. I totally agree with this. I had an Election Commissioner Voter ID card from 1992. I could not find the card number on the net or on physical lists anywhere. And…