As election year dawns, citizens want their issues to become polls planks

The onus is on citizens to hold their representative accountable to their real issues, say activists

The year 2023 will be an election year in Karnataka, with Assembly polls likely in May and civic polls of Bengaluru, zilla and taluk panchayat polls mostly later in the year.

With parties already in campaign mode, the political temperature is steadily rising. But the narrative so far has been dominated by mudslinging and a communally divisive agenda. Citizen groups want the real problems of the common people to become the debating points in 2023.

Harish Narasappa, of Karnataka Election Watch and Association of Democratic Reforms, said parties are getting away with no accountability and scrutiny by diverting attention to trivial issues. “It is evident in how parties treat their manifestos: as a ritual, often released just days ahead of the polls. As a first step, we need to pressurize all parties to release their manifestos two months in advance and try to hold them to account,” he said.

Several groups are gearing up to hold massive rallies in the run-up to the Assembly polls in a bid to force all parties to take a stand on the issues that concern them. For instance, government employees are demanding the State revert to the Old Pension Scheme.

Samyukta Horata-Karnataka, a coalition of progressive groups, is planning mass mobilisations ahead of the upcoming State Budget and Assembly elections. “The farmers’ movement in Delhi was a success because it was able to present our problems beyond caste, religion, and other divisive lines. We need to resist being diverted,” said G.C. Bayyareddy, convenor, Samyukta Horata - Karnataka. 

Women are also lobbying for increased political representation beyond tokenism. At the recently concluded Assembly session, MLA Sowmya Reddy had mooted a private members bill seeking reservation for women in the legislature and government jobs, but was not taken up.

“Despite being an economic powerhouse, Karnataka has very low women’s political representation and poor labour force participation. We cannot reach our potential with half the talent underused,” said Tara Krishnaswamy, co-founder of Political Shakti, a non-partisan group working for better women representation in the political sphere.