Hello and welcome to DH Radio.
Can a city of over 1.3 crore people, perennially struggling to fix its myriad problems, afford to be without an elected city council for over 1.5 years? Uncertainty over the much-delayed Bruhath Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) elections has inevitably led to a huge vacuum in local governance, raising big questions on accountability and transparency.
The Palike has been without an elected Council since September 2020, implying there is no corporator to echo public needs and concerns. The pandemic did disrupt the process, but the new BBMP Act that increased the number of wards from 198 to 243 only complicated matters. The delimitation exercise awaits clearance from the apex court.
In this episode of DH Radio, we have multiple stakeholders in the city's good governance articulate their views on the BBMP polls and what direction the city has to take. DH Radio's Rasheed Kappan speaks to Pruthvi Reddy, State President of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Citizens for Bengaluru CoFounder Tara Krishnaswamy, Srikant Narasimhan, whose Bengaluru Navanirman Party (BNP) and Srinivas Alavilli, Head, Civic Participation, Janaagraha.
Listen in...