Upendra’s party out to professionalise politics

The list of 27 Lok Sabha candidates of Uttama Prajaakeeya Party, launched by actor Upendra, includes, among others, engineers, a doctor, tailor, waiter, a singer, farmers and a Vedic consultant. None is a professional politician. All of them applied, cleared a written exam, an interview and a background verification before being chosen. The contestants even have a uniform: A formal khaki shirt or a jacket (for women), a tie and black trousers.

“We have come up with a dress code to bring professionalism in politics. It is an experiment. The khaki uniform signifies service. And, the tie is nothing but tying ourselves with responsibility,” said Upendra, known for theatrics on screen and off it. The actor’s films, mocking the current style of politics, won him a considerable fan following in Karnataka. Upendra started his own outfit after falling out with the founders of another less-known outfit called the Karnataka Pragnavantha Janata Party.

On the selection process, Bengaluru North candidate Santhosh M, 33, a former employee with IT major Wipro, said he had to clear four steps. “In the written test, we had to answer questions such as our objective for joining politics, plans for the constituency, etc. There was a face-to-face interview, which primarily tested our communication skills. The party conducted background verification and invited public feedback,” he said.


Bengaluru South candidate Natesh Polepalli, 51, who has over 80.000 followers on Facebook, said the party’s first priority was not to win but to bring about awareness. “The job of the elected representative is to work. We believe in transparent and corruptionfree administration. Our party does not even have a concept called party fund,” said this Vedic consultant.

Candidates swear that their campaign costs are minimal. “We do not invest much on the campaign as it’s not a business. We undertake door-to-door campaign and extensively use social media to communicate with voters,” said Melegatti Shridevi, who is contesting from Bengaluru Central.

The party is fielding candidates from 27 of the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state. Apparently, they could not find a suitable candidate for Ballari. “We did not select popular personalities. The idea was to select a person who can work tirelessly for 8-9 hours a day irrespective of his educational qualification or field of work,” digital head of the outfit, Prasanna Krishnamurthy (27), said.

The party does not have a set manifesto either. Candidates hand out a questionnaire during their campaign to elicit the opinion of the electorate. This, they say, will be their manifesto.