SCROLL DOWN FOR A LIST OF BANGALORE CITY CORPORATORS

Soon there will be elections to the Bangalore city corporations and we will all get new corporators. The elections have been called even though the date of the elections has not yet been set, but the courts have ordered the elections to be held in Feb 2021.

As the city grows, people become increasingly focused on their neighbourhoods. The local economy and infrastructure are important as neighbourhoods become little cities in themselves. And for this reason, never before has it been so important to know who your local corporator is.

The constution recognises the importance of local governance. Here's an extract from the 74th Amendment.

“Local Government, that is to say, the constitution and powers of municipal corporations, improvement trusts, district boards, mining settlement authorities and other local authorities for the purpose of local self-government or village administration.” – The Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, 1992. 

We reproduce — in the table below — a list of the corporators in the 198 wards who held office till September 2020, when their term ended. Their responsibilities have been taken over by the bureacracy but that's not material until elections are held.

Now that elections have been planned, there will be a new owl of corporators elected to take care of neighourhoods.

Explocity will keep an eye on things and bring you updates. (Subscribe to our upcoming newsletter — at the bottom of this page — so we can alert you when a new story goes up.)

First, what does a corporator do?

There are 198 wards, each with their own Corporator elected by you. That's right, you.

Their responsibility is to narrow-focus the work of the Municipal Corporation (the BBMP), and address local civic problems and also they are in charge of spending the funds for the development of their ward.

So they are responsible for your every safety and comfort. A good corporator will efficiently coordinate the utilities (like the electrity company), the garbage collectors, the road works people, the police — practically everyone who touches your life as a citizen in one way or other.

Here's a list of their responsibilties.

• Supply of drinking water
• Maintaining roads
• Making sure street lights work
• Development & maintenance of open places like
  • public areas like parks / playgrounds / bus stands / libraries / reading rooms / community centers / crematoriums / burial grounds etc
  • Primary Health Centers
  • Municipal Corporation schools
• Administration and supervision of registration of births and deaths
• Development & maintenance of lakes & stormwater drains
• Naming streets and numbering houses
• Development & maintenance of night shelters, destitute homes etc.
• Maintenance of hygienic and pollution-free environment
• Housing for low-income groups and maintenance of corporation guest houses
• Organising public receptions, public exhibitions & public entertainment
• Provision of transport facilities with the municipality
• Promotion of welfare of municipal employees, Safai Karmacharis
• Garbage clearance
• Raise & resolve issues of grant of trade licenses, plan sanctions, unauthorised constructions, revenue collection etc
• Administer & supervise public welfare schemes for citizens in the ward
• Coordinate with various civic agencies (BESCOM, BSNL, BWSSB, BMTC, BMRCL, BCP, BDA, LDA) to provide civic amenities to citizens

It's a wishlist of everything you want someone to take care of for you. And you have the right to hold your corporator to account for this. There are regular meetings in which you can, and should, participate but more on that next time.

Of late corporators have become increasingly visible and equally, residents of neighbourhoods find themselves interacting more with them, and expecting more of them than they would say, an MLA of the state or a Member of Parliament.

We predict that their importance in local governance will grow and for that reason, there will be more of a fight in the elections than previously.

Explocity would like to say that it is in the best interest of everyone if these corporators are elected on merit and not by political affiliation. While it might not be practical in a starewide or national sense to feel a personal connection with the elected representative, a corporator is different. It is possible to get very granular in knowing these people. They live in the neighbourhood (or ought to). They know where you live and that you have pets and that you have schoolgoing kids. They know the cops in the ares and the water suppy and electricity guy. They know the garbage people and can step in if someone's giving you a hard time.

All this only if you know this person as well as you would like them to know you. And be of help to them in some practical way.

One example of the closeness of the relationship is that the Congress party for one, has advised its corporators to continue to be of service to their wards even if technically they no longer have the job. such as Hanna Bhuvaneshwari in the Cooke Town area, according to some residents of that neighborhood.

(For the record, Ms Bhuvaneshwari politely declined to be interviewed for this article as she said it is their policy to wait for the elections.)

She is not the only corporator with close ties to their wards. There are other similar examples.

Here is a list of corporators that held office until their term ended in September 2020. We will refresh this list after the election resutls are known.

List of Bangalore corporators

Note: This info was collected from various public sources and we take no responsibility for its veracity. Please check all details.

* - Constituency number (to help you find your wsy to the polls.)