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BBMP Elections 2015: Bengaluru sees a poor turnout of only 45 %
August 24, 2015• By Team ICMYC

Did Bengaluru make its voice heard on August 22, as the IT capital of India went to polls? Quite the contrary, reports suggest that only 45 per cent voters turned out to vote. The demands for better garbage disposal mechanism, good, potholes free roads, functional street lights, and the like did not translate into votes.
The civic body election in the country’s IT capital was held on Saturday, amid major concerns of traffic and cleanliness faced by its residents, in a high prestige political battle.
The polls were being held after a prolonged court battle, as the Siddaramaiah-led government sought to defer it on grounds of trifurcating the civic body, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
A total of 1,121 candidates are in the fray, including candidates from the JD(S), MIM, SP, BSP, CPI and the CPI (M). A significant number of independent candidates are also contesting. One candidate from BJP, Bharati Ramachandra from Hongasandra, has already been elected unopposed.
According to The Hindu, likes, shares, posts and tweets seem to far exceed in enthusiasm than the ground reality around polling booths in the city. The hashtag, BBMPelections, trended for most of the day, even reaching number three, according to Twitter Trends.
Twitter analytical tool, Topsy, estimates more than 15,000 tweets featured the term BBMP or BBMP elections. The terms Bengaluru and Bangalore featured in more than 1.5 lakh tweets – a majority of them referring to these elections.
It is perhaps commenting on the trends seen on Twitter, that a user claimed that if voting for the city involved clicking a button, the IT city would have seen a “better” turnout.
Several voters could not vote as their names did not feature on the voter's list.
Smelly booths, load shedding, defiant voter, and much more:
Voters in Nanjappa Agrahara ward (No: 140, Booth: 28) in Chamarajpet were surprised to find their polling station in a burial ground. They had to cover their noses and enter the booth due to the smell.
In Veerannana Palya, where residents had said they would boycott polls, candidates have given an undertaking saying their drinking water issue will be solved. Residents turned up to vote subsequently.
At Pulakeshi ward Fatima Girls' High School, a polling booth for 666 voters caters to a nearby apartment complex that has six blocks. Officials said there was no interest at all among residents.
Residents of Eranapalya (Ward No. 129) decide to boycott polls due to poor infrastructure. On the other hand, residents of Nayandahalli on Mysore Road wore big smiles as hundreds of packets containing chitranna and biriyani were distributed in the area. No one complained since all political parties distributed food to woo voters. A majority of the residents are daily wage workers and have been asked not to go to work promising that they would be paid a day's wage.
About four persons arrested from ward 88, Jeevanbhima Nagar, for distributing cash to voters. An amount of Rs. 2.01 lakh was seized. EVMs only in Kannada was an issue at St. Thomas school too, another polling station in Mahadevpura.
There were no facilities for the differently abled, and the aged. Senior citizens and physically challenged persons were put to hardship on Saturday at most polling booths in the city that lacked wheelchairs.
Whitefield residents say that the names on the EVM were only in Kannada, making it difficult for sections of people to make an informed vote. Zibi Jamal of Whitefield Rising said that voters had also complained that when they asked polling officials to help out voters by reading out names, they only read out names of candidates of major political parties, leaving out the Independents. "There are a few Independent candidates in the area supported by the Bangalore Political Action Committee. This is bias," she alleged.
Some voters alleged that polling officials asked them to learn Kannada in certain booths, she added. On the other hand, with no power at Vijina Pura ward, citizens cast their votes in the dark.
The counting of the votes will take place on August 25, Tuesday.
Source: The Hindu
(with inputs from PTI)