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Former Infosys director and IT industry veteran Mohandas Pai has a simple solution to battle urban apathy reflected in the voter turnout of India’s Silicon Valley, Bengaluru: to make the election card and number portable. He explained that this had been an age-old problem in the IT capital – that those who live in the city are not registered here as voters and those who are in the file, live outside the state.
The voter turnout in Bengaluru was quite low in the previous assembly elections in Karnataka, as reports from the Election Commission of India indicated that there was only 55 percent polling in Bengaluru South, North, Central, and Urban. This was much lower than the voting percentage of 72.44 percent across the state in 2018.
But this time the poll body has set a target of 65 percent for the IT capital of the country and has urged the administration to ensure it is met.
Pai told News18 that governance was a mess in Karnataka with regard to the state capital, while talking about Bengaluru’s woes and how these impacted the upcoming assembly elections. Excerpts from the interview:
People raise a hue and cry when it comes to issues like traffic, floods, or other infrastructure-related problems. But when it is time to vote, the people of the city do not come out to vote in large numbers. Where is the mismatch?
There are many complex issues. A large number of people are not registered in Karnataka as voters, as they are registered back in their hometowns while others who are registered here don’t stay in the state. That cuts down the percentage by 7 to 8 percent. We need a solution where we need to make the election card and number portable, which means the process of transfer should be easy. It should be so that a person files where they are and their vote should be transferred to that place. I am sure it is possible with Aadhaar. Particularly, in Bengaluru, despite a large number of people on file, you have fewer people who actually go out to vote. This is an old problem.
Do you see a disconnect between the elections, development, and the voter?
I do not see any disconnect. The government must build infrastructure, irrespective of who is in power as this is done out of taxpayers’ money. This is people’s money, not charity. By building roads in Bengaluru, they (government) are not doing the people a favour or being charitable. If you (government) are elected, it is your duty; they have a budget and they should make it happen.
How do you resolve this? There has been no election to the BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) in the last three years?
We have not had elections to the BBMP. Governance is a mess in Karnataka when it comes to Bengaluru. The BBMP is not properly staffed and many of them are transferred. There is a need for permanent staff, a full-term mayor for five years who can enable proper reforms. It has nothing to do with people voting or not. The government that sits in the Vidhana Soudha does not want reform but wants to sit there and govern Bengaluru, which is a rich city. They are scared that if Bengaluru becomes self-sufficient, the person who runs it as mayor will become powerful. The political class does not want reforms and it also diverts the funds that come to it for the development of Bengaluru to other places to win elections. It is also because Bengaluru is politically insignificant, though we make up close to 60 to 65 percent of the state’s taxes. In terms of political power, we have only 28 seats. It forms 16 percent of the state’s population but has only 12 percent of the assembly seats.
Do you think delimitation would have helped govern Bengaluru better and develop the city more efficiently?
Yes, but delimitation has not taken place. None of the politicians wants to do it.
Is there a sense of complacency that has set into the city MLAs as many have been elected more than four times and are confident they will win again?
Complacency has set in and many are in business. One person’s (political leader) income has gone up by four figures. Isn’t it shocking? How can it go to four figures in five years? We are also in the business and understand how money is made. Why is nobody questioning how he increased his assets? Income tax and others should ask questions. There are few people who have assets like that in India and ours is not a rich country. What we need is a strong chief minister, who will do what Prime Minister Narendra Modi is doing in Delhi. The CM should bring in good governance and improve matters.
Is there hope for Bengaluru?
We always live in hope. If there is no hope, what is left? We live in hope and have lived in hope for the past 35 years and it continues. When that hope will become a reality, no one knows. See, the Metro is running behind schedule. Why has the BMRCL (Namma Metro) CEO not released the monthly newsletter after January? Nobody knows what the progress of the Metro is. The 2-km work on the home field stretch has not been done. It could have been completed earlier. They have to push and write letters to the railway ministry and the letter travels from department to department. Why can’t the CM pick up the phone and call the railway minister? It is a double-engine government. They don’t want to do it.
What should be on top of a Bengaluru resident’s mind when they go out to cast their vote this election?
Every voter should elect a person they think is a good candidate, reasonably honest, will be responsible for their calls and work for their good. The people should be in touch with them and push for solutions to their problems and, hopefully, they will respond. If you pester MLAs, they will respond.
Bengaluru has many tags when it comes to its traffic woes, flooding, and solid waste management.
Bengaluru’s biggest problem is mobility. It is a rich city and there are 65 lakh two-wheelers and 25 lakh four-wheelers. Everybody is mobile. There is a need for good public transport, which has been stuck for the last 15 years. Why can’t the government allow the private sector and startups to run electric vehicles like buses? They can invite companies with a minimum of 100 electric buses to run and you can always regulate prices. We can emulate what Singapore has done, where they have three or four private bus companies and the government regulates them. Why should only BMTC (Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation) do it? The BMTC is a broken system, where absenteeism is high and they are broke. The important thing is to provide convenience to people, not to provide jobs in the public sector. If you solve the mobility problem by having big and small buses, then 50 percent of Bengaluru’s problems will be solved.
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