JOIN USThe RWAs’ loss could be attributed to the poor voter turnout among urban voters coupled with money and muscle power of political parties. Despite these odds, they managed to take a minimum of 10 per cent votes from each ward. This amounted to a conspicuous change in the voting pattern that has always favoured political parties in the City and State.
R C Dutt, convenor of the Federation of Sanjaynagar RWAs that fielded two candidates in Radha Krishna Temple ward (ward 18) and Sanjaynagar (ward 19), said votes garnered by them worked out “cheaper” than the political parties.
“Consider this: For every vote we got, the candidate spent Rs 22.50 in ward 18 and Ra 23 in ward 19. While political parties have spent almost Rs 114 to Rs 115 for every vote,” he analysed.
The issue that the RWA candidates had to deal with was the “onslaught” of political parties in wooing voters, said Dutt. “While the parties were successful in wooing voters in certain pockets, in other areas it was the apathy that hit us hard,” he said.
Mohan Kumar from ward 18 got 256 votes, while A V Krishnappa from ward 19 garnered 450 votes.
Analysing the loss in Konanakunte, Srinivas, member of the Konanakunte Resident Welfare Association Okkuta, said that apart from the money it was also the party tag that caught the voters eye while voting. “The feeling that a political party is more powerful than an independent in ensuring the welfare of citizens still remains intact. Only those voters, who we could be persuade and who voted for the first time gave us their mandate,” said Srinivas.
He added that apart from the apathy among the middle class, the urban poor’s inclination to lean towards those who “paid” them also acted against their candidates. RWA candidate, Renu Kumar from Anjanapura garnered 1,200 votes. “Of these, 1,000 votes were from our RWA,” informed Srinivas.
The North East Federation of RWAs met the same fate as those of their brethren from other RWAs. “We gave them a fight. I think we should be happy about the dent we made into the political parties’ vote bank. They will not take us lightly anymore,” said an optimistic Rajashekar, who stood from Banaswadi (ward 27) on behalf of the federation. Rajashekar won 900 votes. The RWAs may now go back to the drawing board and strategise as a power house in deciding the City’s future with a hope of contesting again and winning the next time.