Governance

As India gets ready to vote to decide who will represent the country in Parliament, Citizen Matters is speaking to elected representatives from Chennai, ahead of the Lok Sabha 2024 elections. As part of this series, we did an email interview with T Sumathy alias Thamizhachi Thangapandian, incumbent MP from Chennai South constituency. Thamizhachi has been given the ticket by her party DMK to contest from the same constituency in the 2024 polls. Chennai South and Thamizhachi Thangapandian Chennai South constituency comprises of Mylapore, Saidapet, Virugambakkam, Velachery, Sholinganallur and Thyagaraya Nagar. A poet, writer, educationist and theatre person, Thamizhachi is the daughter…

With the 2024 Lok Sabha elections around the corner, the candidates contesting in the polls are busy campaigning to garner votes. Every one of them makes their poll promises during these campaigns, but very few of these are fulfilled in reality. Voters in the city want pending issues to be addressed. Meanwhile, various civic groups in the city have a plethora of demands that they are putting forward for the political parties and their candidates representing the different constituencies in Chennai. Here are a few such demands that the civic groups in Chennai would like to highlight for the progress…

Chennai North is a Lok Sabha constituency composed of the assembly segments including Royapuram, Kolathur, T.V.K.Nagar, Perambur, Thiruvottiyur and Dr Radhakrishnan Nagar. This constituency elected its first Member of Parliament in 1957. The incumbent MP is Dr. Kalanidhi Veeraswamy. Chennai North is not only home to many red-category industries that stretch from North Chennai through Manali to Ennore but also hosts the city’s largest garbage dump — Kodungaiyur dump yard. The constituency has two coal-fired power plants and their ash dumps, coal stacking yards, a 10.5 million tonnes/year petroleum refinery, dozens of petrochemical industries, fertiliser plants, three large ports and…

The two-time Lok Sabha MP representing Mumbai South Central constituency, Rahul Ramesh Shewale from Shiv Sena has quite a long history in politics. He was a corporator of BMC and was nominated the Chairman of the BMC Standing Committee, four times from 2010 - 2014, before running for parliament. He was elected as MP in the 16th (2009) and 17th (2014) Lok Sabha elections from Mumbai South Central, one of the biggest constituencies in Mumbai, comprising areas such as Chembur, Anuksathi Nagar, Wadala, Sion Koliwada, and Dharavi. Recently, the bid for redevelopment project of Dharavi, one of the largest informal settlements in Asia…

Devaragunda Venkappa (DV) Sadananda Gowda represented Bangalore North Parliamentary constituency in the 17th Lok Sabha elections, marking the fourth term of being re-elected in the Lok Sabha elections since 2004. He has represented Bangalore North for two consecutive terms since the Lok Sabha 2014 elections. He served as the 14th Chief Minister of Karnataka in 2011.  In 2014, he was sworn in as the cabinet minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first elected government and held the position of Ministry of Railways and other cabinet positions. He also served as the Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation of India from…

One of the three Lok Sabha constituencies representing the city, Chennai South comprises localities maintained by two different civic bodies: Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) and Tambaram Corporation. And thus, the issues prevailing in the constituency are also contrasting. While the localities under Tambaram Corporation are grappling with the lack of basic amenities, those under GCC require improvement in the amenities provided decades ago. Sholinganallur is one of the largest assembly constituencies, with a voter base of six lakh. Chennai South constituency boasts a highly educated populace, with a significant presence of IT industries and educational institutions. Unique to this area…

One of the youngest MPs elected in the 17th Lok Sabha elections, Tejasvi Surya from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) represents Bangalore South Parliamentary Constituency. He also continues to be the National President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha-a post he has held from 2020. Since 2014, Surya has been an active contributor to BJP, by organising rallies and campaigns. He also represented many BJP leaders as a lawyer, and helped B S Yediyurappa in defending him in corruption cases.  Since September 2019, Surya has been a member of Joint Committee on Offices of Profit and Standing Committee on Communications and Information…

Thamizhachi Thangapandian, also known as Sumathy, hails from Virudhunagar district of Tamil Nadu. She is contesting for the second time in the Lok Sabha elections representing the DMK party in the Chennai South constituency.A poet, writer, educationist and theatre person, Thamizhachi entered politics following the footsteps of her father late V Thangapandian, who was a minister in the DMK government under M Karunanidhi. She has a Ph.D. in English Literature and was educated at Thiagarajar College of Arts & Science, Madurai Kamarajar University, Madurai and University of Madras, Chennai. In 2019, Thamizhachi contested from the Chennai South constituency and won…

How do you check if your name is on the electoral rolls? How do you locate your polling booth? Who are the candidates in your constituency? Can you still vote if you don't have a voter ID card? Follow the Citizen Matters voters guide for quick answers to these questions and more. Election of the 18th Lok Sabha will be conducted in seven phases in all starting April 19 and ending on June 1 2024. Counting of votes is scheduled on June 4. In this mammoth and most challenging exercise in the world’s most populous democracy, it is crucial for every…

In its recently released Manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2024, the IndianNational Congress has promised to bring some much needed reforms in the Indian Parliament. It has promised to ensure that both Houses of Parliament will be in session for 100 days in a year; the opposition parties will be empowered to set agenda for one day in a week and presiding officers (Speaker of Lok Sabha and Chairperson of Rajya Sabha) will not be part of any political party to ensure their impartial functioning. The Manifesto released by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) also acknowledges thatParliament…