Municipal Elections

A local newspaper from my hometown wanted opinions from Nellorians who settled abroad, regarding the Muncipal elections, which are to be held on 23rd September.

This is mine:

I remember very vividly the 86-87 (please correct) municipal elections. I was in in my sixth or seventh class then, we were living in K.V. Agraharam, which was in 16th ward. We used to play cricket in small vacant plot in our street. One evening we were playing cricket as usual , then suddenly some people came and chased us away from that spot. Then they erected shamianas and then within half an hour tractors started arriving with loads of tribals (Nakkalollu).

As we stood there and watched, these people we fed with Palau and were served desi alcohol. Within no time few of them became really drunk and started shouting loudly, we got really scared and ran home. Later that evening I came to know that Municipal elections were the next day and one candidate wanted these people to vote for him and essentially bought these votes.

I live in Calgary, Canada. The Municipal elections are called 'City Elections' here. The system is almost the same. The "ward member' is known as 'Alderman'. People vote for both their Alderman and Mayor. They are elected for terms of four years.

One thing which strikes as a very significant difference between Canada and India is that the Representatives here take their constituents very seriously. Staring from MP to my Alderman, every sends us their monthly news letters detailing the work they did for us. They list their phone numbers and email addresses where we can reach them. I was told that response time for any concern is actually very little.

What we need in Nellore is accountability. The ward members should be in constant touch with us. They should publish thier public phone numbers where they could be reached. They should share with us the work they did for the ward. In India the party they represent is more important than the people who elected them, which in my opinion should change.