Bengaluru: When N. Shanthakumari was elected as Bengaluru mayor last year, she had vouched to work without a break, even sleep, during her seven-month term. A three-time corporator from Moodalapalya, she was popular among local residents for the works she had taken up. The 50 per cent reservation for women in the BBMP polls this time will now force her to move to the neighbouring ward, where she has to start her work from the scratch.
The reservation list, which is seen as the Congress government’s strategy to win the local body elections, seems to have put both the Congress and BJP in a fix. Not only do they have to find suitable women candidates, they will also have to give tickets to wives of male corporators, much to the dislike of other women corporators who may lose the chance to contest the elections.
“It’s been an election tradition. If a man cannot contest because of the reservation, his wife, daughter-in-law or some woman in his family is asked to file the nomination. Though these women are not actively involved in politics, they garner votes because of their relation with the earlier elected representatives,” said a BJP MLA.
On the plight of other capable women corporators, who would lose the chance of contesting the polls, he said, “The fear of not getting a ticket is applicable to both men and women. It’s tricky if a woman corporator vies for a ward and a male corporator too plans to field his wife from the same ward.” Proxy elected representatives are not new to local governments. Many women corporators, after being elected, let their husbands and brothers run the show.
Ms Shanthakumari, who has been in politics for over two decades, agreed that development works take a backseat in wards where there is proxy leadership. “If you cannot avoid such a situation, issue guidelines and protocols to the relatives of women corporators,” suggested Mahalakshmi Parthasarathy of the Citizens Action Forum.
“What is the logic behind husbands running the show for women corporators? Don’t we have capable women candidates or we don’t want to be run by women? It’s not true that there are no eligible 100 women who can be corporators. The political parties should take the responsibility of finding such candidates and training them with skills,” she said.
71.22 lakh voters in 198 wards
The BBMP has made elaborate arrangements for the elections on July 28, and has released the electoral roll with 71.22 lakh voters across 198 wards. The electoral roll has been made available to the public to allow voters to make changes, if need be, in the list. The palike has developed special software that checks anomalies in the electoral list.
Around 35,000 anomalies have been found and are being cleared, Palike sources said. The State Election Commission (SEC), which has announced the calendar of events for the polls, will announce the results on June 31. The code of conduct has been in force since June 25, when the SEC announced the calendar of events.
The male voter population is 37,38,735, while female voters are 33,82,304. There are 1,126 voters in the other category, said BBMP Commissioner and district electoral officer G. Kumar Naik. Electoral officers have been deployed to ensure that the code of conduct is not violated.
The public and political parties can alert the BBMP about code violations. Based on the complaint, action will be initiated, said Mr Naik. As many as 6,733 polling stations will be set up, and 9,309 control units and 11,635 ballot units have been kept ready. If EVMs malfunction, they will be replaced within 30 minutes, he said. Poll expenditure limit of Rs 5 lakh has been set for candidates.
Demand to disqualify corporators
CIVIC trustee member Kathyayini Chamaraj suggested that there should be broader changes in the system and corporators who cannot perform should be disqualified. “People should stop voting for the wives and relatives of former corporators. Instead, the voters should judge women candidates by their work for social causes, how they plan to redress grievances, what their priorities are and if they allow their husbands to take decisions. If elected representatives prove incapable, they should be disqualified. This way, parties too will be cautious in choosing the candidates,” she suggested.
Reservation doesn’t matter at all: CAF
Reservation for different categories of candidates is immaterial for voters, who only want elected representatives to deliver on their promise and provide transparent administration. Unfortunately, the reservation pattern is grossly misused by different political parties, said N. Mukund, general secretary, Citizens’ Action Forum.
What should be the ideal reservation pattern?
Reservation does not matter at all. What is needed is a candidate with good qualities who can provide good administration with accountability. We are not bothered about reservation and it is just a political gimmick.
Is it mandatory to prepare the reservation list based on the 2011 census?
The reservation pattern is applicable to all parties and they should pick able candidates. The year and population do not count if a candidate can deliver transparent administration. The Congress government wants to trifurcate the BBMP to gain political upper hand.
Why is the state government making the reservation list an issue?
It is just a ploy to buy time or to postpone the elections. That is because intelligence units have told the state government that the Congress may not fare well in these elections. By buying time, the government wants to implement some development projects to win over voters.
