BANGALORE, INDIA: No dark sarcasm in the polling booth/ Political parties leave them voters alone, seemed to be the mood of a majority of Urban Bangaloreans, as revealed by the first phase of elections to the Karnataka Assembly.

Bruhat Bangalore Maha Palike (BBMP), home to a significant number of IT and BPO professionals, created a record in political apathy on May 10 with just 44.5 per cent of the total electorate deciding to elect their representatives.

This low percentage is despite the fact that the citizens here, including IT professionals, lamenting the lack of good governance and inadequate infrastructure facilities in the past.

Some of them had even gone to the extent of creating websites criticizing the earlier governments' turning a Nelson's eye towards the woes of the public.

Dr. Sandeep Shastri, political analyst and director of the city-based International Academy for Creative Teaching, felt that Urban Bangalore had lost interest in the elections.

"Urban Bangalore does not seem to have any strong desire to vote. They don't feel that they need an elected representative to address their problems," he said.

Dr. Shastri also attributed the changed economic scenario to the low turnout. "With globalization and liberalization, the decision-making has moved to the private domain. The Bangalore urban middle class (which comprises well-educated, salaried people) do not see any benefit from the government."

MN Vidyashankar, the state's chief electoral officer, echoed the same sentiment. "It is the question of assigning certain priorities on such an important task. For Bangalore's affluent people, voting has always been a low down priority."

He, however, refuted the argument that the IT/BPO professionals had stayed away from the polls. "Hoskote, which comes under Bangalore Rural and which also houses many IT units, recorded 89 per cent turnout," Vidyashankar said, adding that the voter-turnout in BBMP was always low.

Dr Shastri attributed the apathy to voters' silent protest against political parties. He felt that the political parties failed to reflect the middleclass aspirations.

Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV), meanwhile, viewed the low voter-turnout as a bad sign.

"Be it IT people or business men, they want to reside in Bangalore but they fail to take up the responsibility when it comes to choosing a good government for Karnataka," lamented Saneerappa, a KRV spokesperson. "They understand the importance of elections, but staying away from voting is a bad sign."


HAVE YOUR SAY: Do you think IT/BPO professionals from outside the state should register themselves in the electoral rolls in Karnataka and participate in the elections?