Song and dance for JD(S) supporters
If you have enough time to kill and want your day filled with with cheap entertainment, then your destination should be JD(S)election meeting.
A few days ago, a great human sea converged at Laggere, eagerly waiting for former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy from 5 pm. Aware of Kumaranna’s procrastination, the JD(S) workers had arranged for a good ‘tamasha’ to amuse the public. The event managers had a bunch of programmes - comprising songs, dance, mimicry and drama - to make sure the audience stuck to their seats. All through the show, there were announcements that Kumaranna would be arriving in just a few minutes...the former chief minister did turn up - 180 minutes later! The event managers were probably unaware of the former chief minister’s sense of timing - much before his arrival at the venue, the programmes were all exhausted.
Before the public could go berserk, Kumaranna descended at the venue. What followed was his emotional speech with due reference to his recent critical operation, and his heartfelt wish to change the scenario in Karnataka. Amid the strong stink of sarai (emanating from the crowd), Kumaraswamy also mentioned the government’s stern initiative to ban arrack in the state.
...and protest tamasha for Congressmen!
Demonstrations at the KPCC office on Queen’s Road - either seeking tickets or for cancellation of tickets have become the order of the day, since the process of shortlisting of candidates began. The demonstrations have become more boisterous, especially after the release of the first list of 84 candidates on Sunday. Those who failed to make it to the list have been organising protests at the KPCC office everyday.
The daily galata by the workers have become a big headache for commuters using Queen’s Road. But for the party leaders, it is good  tamasha during election time. “They raise slogans- we want ticket - at 11 o clock. But their slogan changes to ‘we want oota’ at 1 pm. We are not very bothered about such demonstrations. As a matter of fact more such activities should take place every day during election time - it is an indication that our party is very popular among people. Look at the JD(S) office, there is nobody even to swat a fly there. During election time, it is not a good sign,” a Congress leader commented. 
Poor women as cheerleaders!
Over 150 women from L R Nagar area in Koramangala I stage were spotted standing under the blazing sun outside the Mayo Hall building for nearly two hours. It was learnt that they had been brought in three lorries by the JD(U) men as a show of strength for candidate Mohammed Nazeer Ahmad, who came to the venue to file his nomination for Shanthinagar constituency. The women were seen engaging in a war of words with the police, who did not permit them to enter the building. hey were dumped in a vehicle and taken to Shanthinagar at around 10.30, they said. Later, they were asked to join a procession organised by JD (U) members by foot till Mayo Hall. While one woman said she has been promised Rs 200, another said, “Some of us are worried about whether we will be given the promised money after all our efforts.” 
Another woman, who was holding the party flag wrapped around a stick in her hand said,  “I want to beat the men who brought us here with this stick.”
Asked why the women were made to stand under the scorching sun, Ahmad said, “Well, the procession took time and everything got delayed.”  Later he told his partymen, “We don’t know how much longer the filing will take. Send the women away.”
Last-ditch effort fails
Probably an inauspicious start for BSP candidate from Shanthinagar, Ruben Moses.The political group made it to the office of the PA of the Returning officer at the corporation office at Mayo Hall only after 3 pm, the closing deadline for candidates to file their nominations. Their pleas to PA Prakash to adjust a bit did not help. “Come here at 11.05 tomorrow. We will begin with your name,” he said, adding, “I can’t violate the deadline. The press is also watching!” When the group refused to budge, he asked them to get the returning officer’s permission if their file had to be processed that day. The BSP group then headed to RO Syed Ali Razwi and started pleading with him.  “Rules are rules. They are laid down by the Election Commission. I can merely implement them, not change them,” Razwi added. The group sulked and walked out silently.
At voters’ service
If you are a resident of K R Puram and are not sure whether your name figures in the voters’ list, then worry not. Just march to the JD(S) candidate L Muniswamy’s ‘home-office’ and ask any of his workers.
Muniswamy, who has shifted loyalties from the Congress and joined the JD(S) recently as he was ignored in the party which he had served since 1969, has kept ready files of voters’ list of each part in his constituency. “The list has been arranged according to the part numbers and polling stations. I have got it verified and found that the names of 90 per cent of the 3.08 lakh electorate figure in the list. The remaining is floating and migratory population,” he says.
What about the photo identity cards? “If they do not have the cards, they can produce any of the prescribed documents and vote. We are creating awareness about this among the voters,” he says.
Are the electoral officials of K R Puram feeling relieved? Let us wait and watch.