Karnataka polls: Incumbent eyes fourth term amid calls for change, voter apathy

The voter’s apathy is hard to miss. In the 2018 Assembly election, Bommanahalli recorded a 47.22% turnout, the lowest in the state.

The idea of the many Bengalurus of Bengaluru – a standard evocation of the city’s diversities and disparities – finds a fairly close expression in Bommanahalli.

Spread over 14 wards on the flanks of the bustling Hosur Road, the Assembly constituency with 4.52 lakh voters is home to startups, popular malls, upscale residential layouts and industrial units. Bommanahalli also has many densely packed commercial-residential stretches where brief spells of rain set off flooding. Reported for large-scale encroachment of storm water drains (SWDs), the constituency also grapples with mobility issues in its interiors. The morning rush hour comes with a defining image – vans run by international schools, stuck in crawling traffic on battered arterial roads.

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The voter’s apathy, however, is hard to miss. In the 2018 Assembly election, Bommanahalli recorded a 47.22% turnout, the lowest in the state. BJP’s M Sathish Reddy has represented the constituency since 2008. Fifteen years is ample time to assess policies on growth and future-readiness but in the absence of an elected corporator, poll-season deliverables in Bommanahalli are, still, about its immediate physical infrastructure.

Reddy who polled 57% of the votes in 2018 is seeking extension on the back of road works and lake rejuvenation and by promising water treatment projects and an extension of the GAIL pipeline beyond HSR Layout, Mangammanapalya and Singasandra. He is trying to use incumbency to his advantage.

“Every election, I face new rival candidates who are brought in like tourists. My priority is to ensure continuity to my work here,” he said.

Movie producer Umapathy Srinivas Gowda, the Congress candidate, is running a campaign for change. “There is a pro-Congress swing across Karnataka and locally, there is discontent about stagnant development. Bommanahalli has thousands of garment industry employees; we are also trying to address safety issues raised by women workers,” he said.

Rowdyism and incidents of extortion were raised as concerns by some of the residents.

Civic engagement

The reopening of Karnataka Compost Development Corporation’s waste processing plant, at Kudlu, has triggered outrage over potential health hazards. Kamesh Rastogi who heads the Bangalore Apartments’ Federation (BAF)’s HSR Layout Cluster is coordinating legal efforts against the move which he said affected about 60,000 people. “The MLA has been promising action but nothing has moved beyond assurances,” Rastogi said.

At a BAF town hall interaction between the candidates and residents from JP Nagar, Bannerghatta Road and HSR Layout, poor roads, encroached footpaths, open drains, and illegal parking in residential areas were raised as major concerns. “Flooding remains a massive problem in areas around the Agara and Madiwala lakes. The clean-up after every spell of rain costs at least Rs 50,000 for many households,” Uma Mani, a member of the HSR Layout cluster council, said.

Reddy claimed that most of the SWD encroachments are cleared and mobility issues would be addressed through the soon-to-open yellow line (RV Road to Bommasandra) stretch of Namma Metro.

JD(S) and Aam Aadmi Party have fielded K Narayan Raju and Sitharamu, respectively, as candidates. In 2018, JD(S)’ T R Prasad polled only 9,379 votes (4.8%).