BBMP: Some criminals handed power, some thrashed

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) elections, which was held after almost nine years, saw trends balancing both the sides of democracy. While many criminal candidates were handed power, some were given a thrashing. Some intellectuals and pioneers were disappointed with a defeat. Here are some of the interesting trends seen in the BBMP Polls 2010.

Here a list of criminal candidates who have been awarded power in the BBMP:

Mohammed Ali alias Diwan Ali:
The former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy drew flak for deciding to give this famous criminal a JD(S) ticket to contest in the BBMP polls from the Banashankari Temple ward (180). Securing 7,938 votes, the man with crimal past won the election too.

Shakeel Ahmed:
Shakeel Ahmed bagged the Bharathi Nagar ward (91) on a Congress ticket. Ahmed is Koli Fayaz"s nephew and is famously known as a rowdy sheeter. He operates in the Shivajinagar area and has at least 15 cases pending against him. He won the polls with 6,197 votes as against the second best candidate's 3,258 votes.

Apart from voting in criminals, Bangalore also showered votes on the wives and relatives of the anti-social elements.

Queen Elizabeth:
Wife of Christopher Chakravarthy (Chakre or Sakkre) won the polls with a whopping 9,963 votes in the Okalipuram ward (96). She was contested on Congress ticket. Chakravarthy is a famous goon allegedly operating in the Srirampuram area.

Farida:
Antoher wife of a well-known gangster Ishthiaq Pahilwan bagged Shivajinagar ward (92). Out of a total of 13,000 and odd votes cast in the ward, the independent candidate Farida claimed a massive number of 7,093 votes. Pahilwan faces charges of extortion, robbery and attempt to murder.

Seema Khannum:
Seema Khannum is the third woman married to a criminal to have won the BBMP elections. Khannum, who is wife of Althaf Hussain took the JJ Nagar ward (136) with 6,883 votes.

However, there were some famous criminals who lost the polls.

Mari Muthu:
Mari Muthu who has earned the title of hooch queen contested in Sagayipuram ward with a JD(S) ticket but lost. She was defeated with a vote margin of 3,377 votes.

Zarina Begum:
The wife of Arif Pasha also lost an independent who secured 6,230. Zarina had managed to secure 4,200 votes, which is not a huge vote margin from that of the winner's votes. Both Arif and his son have pending murder cases against them in J J Nagar police station. Both of them are also known as rowdy-sheeters.

Nagraj alias Bomb Naga:
The famous goon contested as an independant candidate Prakash Nagar ward (98) but lost. There is a murder case against Nagraj

Lakshmi:
Lakshmi, the wife of Nagraj alias Bomb Naga, also contested from Binnypet but lost.

Elumalai, Market Vedi, Sunder Raj and Ibrahim are the other criminals who contested in the BBMP polls but did not find a spot for themselves on the winners list.

Some of the regrettable losses:

Veena:
The only transexual candidate, Veena was just endowed with 671 votes Okalipuram ward (96). She lost against Queen Elizabeth, wife of Christopher Chakravarthy (Chakre or Sakkre).

Prakash Belawadi:

Prakash Belawadi a journalist and famous theater personality contested from the Sunkenahalli ward (142) on the Loksatta Party (LSP) ticket. The people dished out a debacle for the intellectual.