BENGALURU: Disillusioned voters of Shivajinagar vented their ire against leaders of all political parties in a clear indication of a poor turnout on December 5, the polling day in this Assembly constituency even as candidates of the ruling BJP, and opposition Congress and JD (S) pulled out all the stops to woo them through road shows, rallies and door-to-door campaign as well on Thursday.
Voters condemned the apathy of elected representatives voted from this constituency as well as lack of development in recent years. Most of them admitted that they are in no mood to vote for any candidate during polling on December 5 as they are also bitter about betrayal by those elected to the Assembly. The mood of voters in this constituency was best summed by Ajaz Sultan, a cloth merchant in Shivajinagar: "I really do not think we should go and vote for these people as we never know when they will switch sides, ignoring problems of voters. It is our right to vote but there is no point in exercising our franchise this time," he told Deccan Chronicle.
Mr Sultan rued the fact that many people accept money and turn up at polling booths without realizing that they could be cheated by these politicians.
A resident of Jayamahal, a precinct in this constituency, Mrs Klyne D' Souza concurred with Mr Sultan. "I think people will think twice before voting because they know that they have been betrayed. It is high time that someone with a vision to address developmental issues gets elected from this constituency rather than a leader who will resort to politics," she added.
She said Congress candidate Rizwan Arshad and Saravana of BJP would be forced to walk the extra mile to convince voters to support them in the bypoll to fill a vacancy caused by former minister R Roshan Baig's resignation before his entry into the BJP.
A constituency with fairly dense population, Shivajinagar is dotted with shopping hubs like Commercial Street, some famous Sufi shrines, the most famous being Kambal Posh, and very popular for its Ramadan food mela and street food.
It poses a challenge for all candidates because of the mix of linguistic (Tamil) and religious minorities. In the past, people of this constituency have elected candidates of Congress, BJP, and erstwhile Janata Party.
Mr R Roshan Baig, elected thrice on a Congress ticket and once as nominee of undivided Janata Dal, was disqualified as he resigned his membership of the Assembly and later joined the BJP.
The BJP, however, declined to field him as its candidate for the forthcoming bypoll.
In the triangular contest on cards in this constituency, Mr Rizwan Arshad, who unsuccessfully contested Lok Sabha polls twice as Congress nominee, is pitted against M Saravana of BJP, and Tanveer Ahmad Ullah of JD (S).
