City's top leaders don't vote here

Author: B V Shiva Shankar Date: 24 Mar 2008
They live here and work here, but go elsewhere when it’s time to vote. And leading Bangalore’s non-participants is Governor Rameshwar Thakur



Some of Bangalore’s biggest newsmakers will not vote in Bangalore. Leading the bigwigs is Governor Rameshwar Thakur, who prefers to vote in Delhi.


movers and shakers: Governor Rameshwar Thakur (left) prefers to vote in Delhi and Kumaraswamy (right) votes in Hassan, while Dharam Singh (centre) is the only former CM who votes in Bangalore

Thakur does not figure in the revised electoral rolls published on March 20. He resides at Raj Bhavan that comes under Sampigehalli of Shivajinagar assembly segment. Although Sampigehalli is his official address for the last six months, he has asked the authorities not include his name in the state voters’ list.

Many other luminaries have followed suit: they stay in the city and exercise their franchise elsewhere. Seven former chief ministers live in Bangalore, but only one votes here.

S Bangarappa, M Veerappa Moily, H D Deve Gowda, S M Krishna, Dharam Singh, H D Kumaraswamy, and B S Yeddyurappa are prominent Bangalore citizens. But only Dharam Singh will vote in the city. He lives in Sadashiva Nagar and has enrolled as a voter in the Jayamahal constituency.

Bangarappa and S M Krishna live in Sadashiva Nagar but vote in Soraba (Shimoga) and Somanahalli (Maddur) respectively. Deve Gowda and his son Kumaraswamy are residents of Padmanabhanagar, but they vote in Holenarasipura (Hassan). Yeddyurappa has a house in Dollars Colony in Bangalore but votes in Shikaripura (Shimoga).

Former deputy chief ministers Siddaramaiah and M P Prakash stay in the capital but vote from Mysore and Bellary respectively.

“The rules allow the voter to choose his voting address,” said an officer at the election commission. “All that he has to produce is proof of address, and ensure that his name is not duplicated elsewhere.”

Congress spokesperson V S Ugrappa, lives in Mahalakshmi Layout but votes from Pavagada (Tumkur).
He said, “We want to identify with our voters and prefer to vote with them. For official work, we have to stay in the capital and we are also proud to be Bangaloreans.”