BPAC gets into act, 14 candidates to get poll funds

Bangalore, April 27: A first step was taken to remove the menace of black money and wastefull expenditure in elections. The beginning was made in Bangalore today.

Bangalore Political Action committee (BPAC), the citizen's group, today endorsed 14 candidates in Bangalore for the Karnataka Assembly elections scheduled for May 5.

The 14 candidates would get funds for election expenditure, and the funds have been collected by the BPAC from the citizens.

According to Biocon chairperson Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, who is managing trustee and president of BPAC, the committee collected Rs 1 crore through donations from Bangaloreans.

The candidates would be given funds ranging from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, each. In a constituency if there are more than one candidate, each will get Rs 3 lakh and a single candidate in a constituency will get Rs 5 lakh. They will be issued cheques by the BPAC.

The 14 candidates endorsed by the BPAC are: Krishna Byregowda (Congress, Byatarayanpura), BK Chandrashekar (Congress) and Shanthala Damle (Loksatta Party) both from Basavangudi, Ashwin Mahesh (Loksatta Party, Bommanahalli), Tejswini Gowda (Congress, Bangalore South), Dinesh Gundu Rao (Congress, Gandhinagar), Abdul Azeem (JDS, Hebbal), BN Vijaykumar (BJP, Jayanagar), CN Ashwathnarayan (BJP) and Meenakshi Bharath (Loksatta Party) both from Malleshwaram, NL Narendra Babu (Congress, Mahalakshmi Layout), MRV Prasad (JDS, Padmanabhanagar), S Suresh Kumar (BJP, Rajajinagar) and Michael Fernandes (KJP, Savagnanagar).

These candidates were chosen based on them meeting a minimum criterion. The shortlisted candidates were given a questionnaire on Bangalore's problems, and the solutions offered by them were added to their selection process.

Chairman of Manipal Global and vice president of BPAC Mohandas Pai said the citizens group was a kind of lobby for the educated middle class of Bangalore and it will strive to achieve a better Bangalore.

Bangalore has largest population of educated middle class, who are young, and hence the perfect place to involve them in the democratic process, Pai said when asked why Bangalore.

The BPAC endorsed candidates will get support in terms of social media and traditional media publicity and engagement, apart from funds. Join BPAC movement at http://www.bpac.in/

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