No road, no vote: Poll campaign in Rajarajeshwari Nagar goes viral

BENGALURU: With civic polls just days away , Rajarajeshwari Nagar (RR Nagar), a middle-class suburb off Mysuru Road, is witnessing a `No Vote' campaign. It all began with residents organising themselves after local resident and sculptor Vidhya Shree shot pictures of patchy roads and uploaded them on social media.

On Monday, she posted 19 photos, taken at different places, on Facebook which showed a few residents holding a placard that read 'No Road, No Vote,' with pothole-dotted roads in the backdrop. By the time she woke up on Tuesday, her posts had received an overwhelming response from other residents in the area.

"I travel on these roads every day and I was really fed up. My only intention was to send out a message," said the 23-year old resident, who teaches art in a private school.

The campaign, which urges residents to vote only in exchange for civic action, may have a bearing on voter turnout in the Rajarajeshwari Nagar ward on the polling day of August 22. In the 2010 election, half of 45,345 voters had cast their votes. BJP's BH Ramachandra won with 12,101 votes. The ward is reserved or women this time.

"Our ward didn't vote in large numbers last time. Now, because of the civic issues, even those who voted last time may not come out to vote. Vidhya's work focuses on roads, while lack of water supply is also a big problem," said Shreesha Bharadwaj, a businessman who started a Facebook group for Rajarajeshwari Nagar residents.

RR Nagar MLA Munirathna blamed the local BJP corporator for the mess. "The BJP-led civic body wasted money by asphalting the roads that were in good condition rather than focusing on those that were in bad shape."