With the polls to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) around the corner, various civil society groups are getting set to prepare a ‘citizens’ charter’. That apart, these groups are now focussing largely on creating awareness among voters about the importance of exercising their franchise.
The Citizens’ Action Forum (CAF) will be taking these awareness campaigns to the apartments and urging residents to enrol their names in the voters’ list.
D.S. Rajashekhar, CAF president, said they would also organise debates between the different candidates at the ward-level. This will help the citizens choose the best candidate to represent them.
“We are also insisting that none of the candidates should have a criminal record or pending cases against them. If they are found corrupt, even if it is prima facie, the candidates should immediately withdraw or step down,” he said.
Kathyayini Chamaraj from CIVIC said the 2010 manifesto of the various parties will be reviewed. “The BJP was the ruling party in BBMP council for five years. We will ask them to show their achievements on their own manifesto.”
CIVIC, along with around five other organisations, has taken up an exercise to prepare the citizens’ manifesto. The manifesto will be sent to various organisations for endorsement and later submitted to the various political parties ahead of the polls, she said.
