India Votes - Expose 2: Bangalore Votes

(An auto rickshaw dons a megaphone and the Indian flag. I later waited for the rick to pass to find that the driver was promoting Congress, just one of the many unique ways campaigning has taken place in these elections)

As the second round of polling takes place in my part of town, I wondered what the average "admi" wanted politicians to do for them.


Bangalore - Thursday 23rd April - The weather in this city is slowly turning into London rains. You know the rains that don't stop, they just continue, with that gush of wind that seems to always turn your umbrella upside down? As much as Bangalore's random weather keeps changing - one moment with glaring sunshine, the next with heavy rain and overpowering wind - one can't help but notice that the change in weather may be a sign of some sort that change is coming in this city.


Today is the second phase of polling in the Indian elections, but more importantly, this is the chance for my constituency, Bangalore South, to put its name on the map and ensure politicians know what they want done in their area. Voters in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand are going to the polls today. Polling for one seat in tiny Manipur in the north-east took place on Wednesday.

I was a little surprised that my area, JP Nagar, wasn't even on the voting registrar on Karnataka's online database guide of "where to vote" depending on your area. The newspapers say my area comes under Jayanagar, but I wonder how many local people know that. I've been told by somebody that for the last 5 years, she hasn't been able to pay property tax because on the Internet there is no information as to where the office is where she should pay. Her answer - "How can we pay property tax when there isn't even a property for the tax people to accept the payments from?" Where to vote? Where to pay tax? This is an example of the very complex India and inadequacies associated with it.

India is a strange democracy. It works in so many ways, yet can be annoying in so many other ways. I asked my uncle last night, who owns a electrical wholesalers business in one of the main shopping complexes of Bangalore (Jayanagar 4th Block), whether he'd be voting. "Of course", he says all smiles, "but it just depends if they haven't forgotten my name on the list. Sometimes you turn up with your voters ID card and your name isn't there. What to do?"

Names on lists? Surely his name must be registered, because he has voted so many times over the years. "No it doesn't work like that, this is India, its complicated". How annoying would that be, to ensure your name was on a list? Makes me think that voting is much easier in London. Your names always on a list. Here, it just seems as though your hoping that your names on a list!

Knowing what people want is another interesting factor. I went to see my landlord, who was surrounded by a dozen or so men in his office, each with pop bellies gossiping in Kannada about something or other, to ask what he wanted politicians to do. He just looked at me blankly. This was nothing to do with the fact that my Hindi was crap, because quite frankly, its actually better than his because he only speaks the local language so well. I asked again, and his answer in his very funny, broken, almost "I'm trying to speak English to impress you Ravin" was - "JP Nagar area good. BJP make area good". Well okay then fair enough. But why the BJP? "BJP good. Good people. BJP na mara family long history hai". So was he voting because his family had a long history of voting for the BJP or was it because he didn't know anything better?

Voting in India is down to loyalties, but its also down to many other things. Of course, ethnic tensions play into this too, and I spoke to a couple of guys who told me they wouldn't vote the current Congress Party because they are too "friendly with Muslims". Hmm. In a country so diverse as India, being a party for all admi is important, but basing ones vote on tensions such as the Hindu-Muslim thing is quite scary. I thought India had moved on from that, but quite clearly, I don't think it ever will.

I finally wanted to know the opinion of my hairdresser. Whilst he prepared oil for my face massage, I asked him what he thought and who he would vote for. "I can't vote. It means going pretty far back home, at least 5 hours from here. I'm not going to close the business for that. It's a shame, but business counts more".

All in all, Indians want change, they want something new, and the election commission says that voter turnout will increase this time around. I'm convinced it will, but with such administrative problems like voter registration and the hassles involved in voting, I wonder if that will make any difference at all. How can change come when people aren't willing to make changes to the electoral and voting process themselves? Voting should be a honour, a right, but from what I see, its just an inconvenience.


Stay tuned this week as Ravin looks at some recent election techniques that parties are using to entice voters