<p>Today is quite literally the festival of democracy in Bengaluru. Nearly 1 crore citizens of Bengaluru are on the official voter rolls and will decide who their MLA will be for the next five years. Of the 224 MLAs of Karnataka, 28 are going to be from Bengaluru. That is a lot of firepower in the Assembly. MLAs have powers to reform city governance, fight for a rightful share of funds, and strengthen institutions for better planning.</p>.<p>* Parties are important, but candidates even more. Ask yourself if your candidate reflects your values. Does he/she have empathy, the willingness to listen and learn, and take everyone along?</p>.<p>* The oft-repeated cliche in Bengaluru is that while we have many problems, we already know the solutions and even have the resources. What is always missing are the two magic words: political will. Is the candidate you are choosing someone with a strong political will?</p>.<p>* If you are still cynical about all candidates, you can opt for NOTA (none of the above). Your vote for NOTA sends a strong message to all political parties to do better.</p>.<p><strong>Locate your constituency</strong></p>.<p>Citizen volunteers Pravar Chaudhary and Chaitanya Deep have developed an easy-to-use web portal to locate your constituency. Look up 2023elections.bengawalk.com. Opencity.in is an alternative.</p>.<p><em>(The author is a citizen activist)</em></p>
<p>Today is quite literally the festival of democracy in Bengaluru. Nearly 1 crore citizens of Bengaluru are on the official voter rolls and will decide who their MLA will be for the next five years. Of the 224 MLAs of Karnataka, 28 are going to be from Bengaluru. That is a lot of firepower in the Assembly. MLAs have powers to reform city governance, fight for a rightful share of funds, and strengthen institutions for better planning.</p>.<p>* Parties are important, but candidates even more. Ask yourself if your candidate reflects your values. Does he/she have empathy, the willingness to listen and learn, and take everyone along?</p>.<p>* The oft-repeated cliche in Bengaluru is that while we have many problems, we already know the solutions and even have the resources. What is always missing are the two magic words: political will. Is the candidate you are choosing someone with a strong political will?</p>.<p>* If you are still cynical about all candidates, you can opt for NOTA (none of the above). Your vote for NOTA sends a strong message to all political parties to do better.</p>.<p><strong>Locate your constituency</strong></p>.<p>Citizen volunteers Pravar Chaudhary and Chaitanya Deep have developed an easy-to-use web portal to locate your constituency. Look up 2023elections.bengawalk.com. Opencity.in is an alternative.</p>.<p><em>(The author is a citizen activist)</em></p>