BBMP Council and Bangalore Patrol

The Times of India Bangalore ran a 2 page advertisement on their next initiative for people – Bangalore Patrol. A joint venture run by Janaagraha, the aim of this exercise is to publish reports similar to score cards for work accomplished by Corporators. An extract –

Dear Corporator, Bangalore has asked you a question and your time starts now.
Winning an election is not a reward or a prize. It is a challenge. A challenge thrown to you by all the honest, law-abiding citizens of your ward. And you don’t have till the next election to find answers.

What a mockery of an advertisement and an initiative!

How many of these law-abiding citizens went and voted for their ward I wonder. As far as TOI is concerned, I am personally aware of an employee of this institution who did not vote on 28th March! This is what I call double standards in its most sophisticated form. Apart from considering this to be a joke, I find fault in both adjectives used for citizens. Where are the honest people? If everyone were honest, we would not have crime. Calling citizens law-abiding is insulting the word. We would not require traffic police if people followed something as simple as a traffic light. If there was anything in this world that generalization would not apply for, it is for these 2 terms.

A full page advertisement will not stop corruption and neither will deploying people to generate statistics. If I am right, these statistics they intend to collect for the performance report will come from 52% of the population which did not bother to vote. Out of the rest who actually voted, the poor voted because they were paid, some voted because exercising their right was a habit and only a few voted because they wanted a better tomorrow. Apart from the latter, no one else can get away with questioning a Corporator. If you have not bothered to select and elect your leader, you lose your right to question their office. One might contest this by saying that we pay taxes. One pays taxes because one can afford to and not because of any social responsibility.

I have been a very conscious voter every single time after my first foray into voting. The sheer newness of voting moved my focus away from the bigger picture the first time I could exercise my right. After that first time, I have always managed to read up as much as possible about candidates from my area before deciding on whom to vote for. I have even questioned them about their manifesto when they came to my doorstep while campaigning. If I have issues, I have raised them in the past. The one thing that I have not done before is finding out if my issue was being addressed. This is on my to-do list from this year onwards. I intend to take responsibility too. It is not always the responsibility of the other person (the elected representative). All these years, I have not been bogged down by the fact that we get some heinous people as candidates. It does not deter me from voting at all.

I never had a lot of regard for TOI’s content or its initiatives but Bangalore Patrol has just solidified my belief a bit more. Deccan Herald, diametrically opposite in appeal to the eye, is a much better choice with your morning coffee. They sell quality instead of glamour to their customers.

My take on this year’s BBMP polls - With a 49% voter turnout, BJP being more intelligent with early preparation and spending power than the other parties, there was no way that they would not have seen a sweeping win in Bangalore.