Bangalore South, termed as one of the most prestigious parliamentary constituencies in the state, is the best example of a mixture of the ignorant, the educated and those with political insights and knowledge. Whatever their literacy status, the people of Bangalore South seem to be the happiest and most comfortable, compared to other constituencies. They have a few grouses, like garbage and traffic. People who live here have better commute, roads, water facility and infrastructure.
Interestingly, a majority of the assembly segments which come under this parliamentary constituency have Metro connectivity and Cauvery water supply, good roads and flyovers to make commute easy, and parks at the corners of every road. Unfortunately, some of these amenities, like parks and playgrounds, are dying due to lack of maintenance.
The constituency — a bastion of the BJP, with former MP late HN Ananth Kumar winning six times — is not going to be a cakewalk for the party this time, say those with their finger on the pulse. BJP’s last-minute choice, 28-year-old Tejasvi Surya has to face BK Hariprasad (Congress).
According to voters, the last-minute change in candidature by the party and the fact that Tejasvi is relatively unknown among the public, is a major drawback. Nagaraju, a retired horticulture department employee who has lived in the constituency for the past 30 years, says, “We would all vote for BJP when Ananth Kumar was the candidate, without any second thoughts. This time too, we had decided to vote for the BJP, presuming that his wife would get the ticket. But now, it is a new name and new face. How do we trust this young boy? We need to think and vote this time.”
“I have lived here for more than 45 years. I feel that this time, we should think before voting. The person we elect should be accessible and approachable. I don’t think Bangalore South needs an MP with multi-lingual skills and who is familiar with social media. The person we elect should bring funds from the Centre and be development-oriented,” says Lakshmikantha, who runs a business.
In this scenario, the Congress sees a sliver of hope. Party candidate BK Hariprasad is not a new face for the constituency -- he had contested in the 1999 parliamentary elections and lost by 40,000 votes. “As a Congress block level worker, I was worried about Tejaswini Ananth Kumar’s candidature, but now the BJP has itself cleared some of our hurdles by putting up a new face,” says Deepak, a Congress worker.
However, BJP workers are hoping for a ‘Mattomme Modi wave (Modi wave once more)’. “It is not that people vote for the candidate, everyone votes for the nation and to make Narendra Modi prime minister again,” says a BJP worker.“The JD(S) and Congress have fielded a coalition candidate, but we don’t think it is going to help them, because in the 2014 elections, the JD(S) candidate got just 25,677 votes,” say a BJP worker.
The BJP’s winning margin in 2014 itself tells the story: Ananth Kumar got 6,33,816 votes, while Congress candidate Nandan Nilekani got 4,05,241 votes — a clear difference of 2,28,575 votes. Interestingly, all candidates and parties seem to have ignored slum-dwellers and those in low-lying areas, the reason being a majority of votes belong to the elite class. “Even in the last election, no candidate from the major party visited us.
Our votes don’t matter to them as our headcount is less,” says Maadaiah, who lives in one of the slums.“During rainy season, our houses are flooded. We get helping hands from our local corporators and our votes are based on our local leaders and the party they represent,” says Rathnamma, who lives in Kaveripura.