In Bangalore South, will Aadhaar help or hinder Nilekani?

by A Ram Babu Bangalore: Until a few years ago voters even in urban constituencies by and large preferred known devils to unknown angels. They were unwilling to take chances and opt for new faces. But things have changed. As far as Bangalore is concerned, the General Elections 2014 are unusual in many aspects. People in the city, particularly the professional class, are determined to fight bad governance and corruption. [caption id=“attachment_1486703” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  AFP[/caption] Citizen’s groups have sprung up in the last couple of years propagating change for the better through technology and fair administration. For instance, the Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) has been doing its bit to usher in good governance and improve living conditions in the city. Despite public resentment in the last several years against unresolved civic issues like woefully inadequate infrastructure and drinking water scarcity, the citizens of Bangalore South, mostly consisting of the middle class, have remained apathetic and showed little enthusiasm during elections. Since 1996 the Bangalore South constituency has been represented by BJP leader HN Ananth Kumar. Lately however, the people in this constituency seemed to have woken up to their rights as citizens. The constituency has a good mix of people from different linguistic groups with a cosmopolitan outlook. The progressive youth including forward-looking techies working in the IT/BT companies as well as the underprivileged are taking active interest in public welfare. In this emerging era of changed electoral dynamics, especially with political activism growing among professionals (more prominently IT professionals) it is difficult to presume that seasoned politicians with advantages like money power and grassroots organizational strength will win elections hands down. If Ananth Kumar, the five-time Member of Parliament and BJP national secretary, finds the going tough it is because of the heightened political awareness among the general public. Among the 22 other candidates in the fray, his most formidable opponent is Nandan Nilekani, former Infosys CEO and Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, who is representing the Congress Party. But Ananth Kumar is banking heavily on the prevailing pro-BJP public mood. His election promises for Bangalore include: a dedicated electricity generating facility for the city, Rs.10,000-crore special package for city infrastructure development and improved suburban railway facilities. The candidates who may not pose any threat to both the BJP and the Congress candidates but may spring surprises by substantially cutting into vote-shares of the mainline national parties are: Nina P Nayak of the Aam Aadmi Party and Ruth Manorama of the Janata Dal (Secular). In terms of political experience all the three candidates (of the Congress, the AAP and the JD-S) can be termed greenhorns. Among the eight Assembly segments, the BJP and the Congress have equal share of four MLAs each. Both the BJP and the Congress candidates are Brahmins and the dominant caste groups in the constituency are Brahmins and Vokkaligas. But the caste factor is not particularly seen as a major determinant in voting. Among the three new entrants in politics Nandan Nilekan is obviously the most popular. He is confident of impressing voters with his clean record as a public personality and his reputation as the head of the Unique Identification Authority of India. Many voters in the constituency look up to him as a global technocrat with a vision to promote inclusive growth in society and consider him a worthy candidate who can be trusted for delivering the goods, but he faces a tricky problem: he is saddled with a great disadvantage of being a representative of a party which has gained notoriety for corruption and scams. Some observers say if the crisis in the Congress Party and its bleak electoral prospects is seriously undermining what could have been Nilekani’ s unrivalled position in the contest, the Modi wave is greatly helping Ananth Kumar to overcome the anti-incumbency factor he is facing. The Congress Party’s strong negative baggage is likely to haunt Nilekani and it may ultimately be his undoing. It did not come as a surprise when writers UR Ananthamurthy and Girish Karnad (both Jnanapeeth award winners) declared their support for Nilekani since they have always voiced their opposition towards the BJP and the RSS. Their open participation in partisan politics during elections has created ripples of protest in KArnataka’s literary circles. What came as a major embarrassment to Nilekani was adverse remark made against him by his former colleague in Infosys and B.PAC activist TV Mohandas Pai. He has expressed his serious reservations about Nilekani’s suitability and ability to function as an efficient elected representative in the constituency. According to analysts, the differing views of the public in the wake of the Supreme Court’s strictures against the Aadhaar scheme implemented by Nilekani are also likely to impact voters decisions. While Nilekani’s admirers talk of his creditable performance in implementing the nationwide Aadhaar scheme there are skeptics who dismiss the project as an ineffectual venture without a vision. But many common people view the scheme as beneficial and they are not really concerned about pitfalls like lack of data security and privacy of confidential personal information. Among the priorities Nelekani has listed to promote Bangalore as a world-class city are: adequate supply of drinking water, cleanliness without garbage, access to quality education and employment opportunities and transparency in governance.