Honest Techie loses symbol in Karnataka elections
By Suneetha.B

Ravi Krishna Reddy is a disappointed man. A goof up by the authorities may cause him to lose the election which he was contesting to the Karnataka State Assembly from Jayanagar, Bangalore. Reddy was allotted the election symbol of the ‘nagara’ or the drum. The campaign in India is usually focused on the symbol, and Ravi too went round appealing to the voters of his constituency to vote for the ‘nagara’. A few techies had volunteered to be with him and they had gone round till the last moment appealing for the ‘nagara’.

When the ballot proceedings commenced on May 10, Ravi got the shock of his life when his symbol appeared nowhere on the sheet. Instead another smaller percussion instrument, the ‘tabla’ was marked next to his name. The candidate, who had given up his lucrative job in the US as a techie to fight for the people in his native land is now a disappointed person. He is however determined that this will not be the last of the episode.

It is reliably learned that he approached the Chief Electoral Office seeking a re-election but that has been ruled out. Ravi has left for the US on Sunday and his friends are taking up cudgels on his behalf. His phone was picked by one Mr. Paramesh, his friend, who says they will approach the court to seek justice. They are in discussion with lawyers on how to best do this. Meanwhile the authorities think that since there were no other similar symbols, there is no confusion caused among voters and no re-election in the pipe line. Ravi, but thinks otherwise and fears this mix-up will cause his efforts to win the Jayanagar seat to be thwarted.

Techgoss note:  Ravi has sent the following letter to the Election Commission.

To:
Chief Electoral Officer
(Karnataka State)
DPAR (Elections), Old KGID Building Annexe
Dr. B R Ambedkar Veedhi
Bangalore – 560 001.

Subject: Cruel Joke of Election Expenditure Limit and Distortion of Poll Symbol by Election Commission

Dear Sir,

I, Ravi Krishna Reddy, have contested from Jayanagar Constituency as an Independent Candidate to protest against the immoral, unethical political practices and money power in Karnataka's democracy. This contest was meant to showcase an alternative politics, which is legal, ethical and value based. When there are innumerable examples of MLA candidates spending crores of Rupees for just an assembly election, I was convinced that the only way to fight these illegal and unethical practices was by public participation and fighting the election with public funding. I have raised Rs. 4,22,000 (approx) from the public, starting from Rs. 10 donated by a 70 year old, poor elderly woman of Ragigudda Jopadi, to 105 other Indian donors from all across the world. To this I have added my own money of Rs. 23000 and we have spent Rs. 4,45,291 for the election. Hope you too have noticed this as this information was made public as soon as the election was over.

My above preamble is relevant because I am told by the Jayanagar constituency's Returning Office officials that I am the only candidate who has spent more than 4 lakh rupees in this constituency! According to them, all the other candidates have "shown" their expenses to be less than 4 lakhs! I ask in wonder: how is this possible? Because, I have seen rallies taken out by political parties in this constituency, with hundreds of workers, on multiple occasions. On two occasions, I myself witnessed rallies at Jayanagar Shopping Complex in which the current MP waving at the public from the rooftop of a van. Hundreds of daily-wage workers, many 4 wheelers, and innumerable motor bikes were all part of this procession. I was also present in the same premises when a candidate was having his lunch with hundreds of poor, daily-wage workers inside a big Marriage Hall. Special, colorful, expensive handbills and booklets were distributed by the candidates all across the constituency.

Isn't it a cruel joke to say that even after all these expenses they have spent less than 4 lakhs?

Hasn't the EC officials taken videos of these processions and noticed the publicity materials of the candidates and its worth?

After noticing all this, I strongly believe that the Election Commission has not fulfilled its duty responsibly and legally. Without keeping a tab on candidate's expenses, I believe EC has sent an open message to all the candidates across the country and that message is: "Spend as much as you want, but let your expense returns be within 10 lakhs. We do not verify any details. The ceiling of 10 lakhs is just on paper and is of no significance whatsoever."

I am concerned that the EC is not taking any measures to enforce the expenditure limits and this legal limit is a farce. I have to say with deep regrets that EC is not doing any justice to law abiding citizens of India, who want to contest the elections, rightfully and legally. At this moment, at least for the third phase of elections, I strongly urge you to deploy observers behind candidates and their workers to make sure that they won't cross the expenditure ceiling, and thereby provide justice to the candidates who respect and abide by the law.

Along with this, I also would like to draw your attention towards the complaint that I have lodged with the RO of Jayanagar constituency. The EC allotted "Nagara" as my poll symbol. But, the symbol that was printed on the ballot box of EVM was something else. We spent almost Rs. 30000 for street plays and the display of actual Nagaras. We organized these street plays in the constituency primarily where low-income, uneducated voters are in large numbers. (As a matter of fact, some of the Tamil speaking voters were constantly reminding us that 'Nagara' is the symbol of one of the Tamilnadu's Political Party.) But, on the day of the election, the symbol that was on the ballot box was something other than the official 'Nagara' symbol. Some news reports reported that the RO says, “It is not a major blunder”.  I strongly protest against this kind of statements and believe this is a not a responsible statement. This was an error and the RO should have considered what does law says for such a situation, instead of opining whether it is a major or minor blunder. So, hereby I request you to kindly let me know what measures you have taken. Otherwise, I may have to consider exploring my legal options. Before I take that extreme measure, I believe getting these details and being educated by you regarding my choices are within my rights.

The fact that I was the candidate who has spent the maximum amount of money in this constituency and this campaign was run by the hard earned money of ordinary people compels me morally to demand answers and seek justice.

Sincerely,
Ravi Krishna Reddy
Independent Candidate,
Jayanagar Assembly Constituency
Karnataka

cc: Chief Election Commissioner (New Delhi) and Media
“

(Techgoss had run the following story on May, 9, 2008)

Thatskannada backs techie
By Suneetha.B

Ravi Krishna Reddy must be feeling good. His election campaign is gathering momentum; he is getting media coverage without having to go round with begging bowls and spoonfuls of temptation and the hustings is just ahead, it is on May 10th 2008.

The media stories that scroll down his web site have gone up in number and show a rediff.com story as well as a CNN-IBN capsule. It also includes the techgoss one that we put up a few days ago; but what looks even better is the support offered by thatskannada.oneindia.in where G.S.Satya writes in from San Jose, CA. The open letter addressed to Reddy is in full-fledged appreciation of what Reddy is doing. Satya minces no words in this appeal to the voting public; he says he has been canvassing the techies in the constituency to go out and exercise their voting rights in favor of Reddy. After all it’s not everyday that a techie decides to make a sacrifice of his hi-tech life style to take up the flag and march on for the masses. Satya also affirms that the NRIs can serve India alright, ‘effectively and from a distance.’ In fact thatskannada had put up an earlier story on the site about Reddy jumping into the election pool, but its in Kannada and not accessible to people who don’t know the language.

In case you are a newbie and don’t know about Satya, he is one of the seven founders of TIE (The Indus Entrepreneurs), the non-profit global organization that promotes Indian techie start-ups. So let’s keep watching Reddy’s fortunes!

(Techgoss had run the following story in April, 2008)

Techie raises Rs. 3 Lakhs election fighting fund
By Suneetha.B

His website proclaims great words by Gandhiji and Abraham Lincoln, including ‘be the change you want to see in the world’. He is doing exactly that. Ravi Krishna Reddy, a computer science ME, had a ‘decent’ (his definition) techie job back in the US for over 6 years, and has left it all to plunge into politics back home. Reddy is contesting as an independent candidate from the Jayanagar constituency in Bangalore to the Karnataka state assembly.

He is quite media savvy. He has founded a Kannada magazine, has a website, a blog in Kannada and a column in Youtube where he presents his weekly columns. But the media has done just a handful of stories on him; he is still curiosity in the eyes of the common man. You won’t find many public endorsements to what he did; the word ‘politician’ is derogatory not just in American English but the Indian society too. Yet, Reddy is sticking to his decision and wants to do a lot, says his website. He says his candidacy is an effort to start a new conversation in politics. He expects no bouquets and lot of brickbats, yet wants to do it. He says the election contest is all about morals and ethics.

Reddy looks actively for volunteers to help his campaign and seeks donations towards his poll expenses. The poll expenses are usually the biggest joke in any elections in India, the limit of 10 Lakhs ($ 22,750) is usually peanuts for the candidates with party backing, and they usually spent a hundred fold of that. But Reddy means to stick to the limit. He has put up a donor list on the site and has collected over 3 Lakhs ($ 7500) mainly from the techie groups. In fact over 50% of the financial support he received has been from the IT sector. If the donations exceed the limit he says it ‘will be spent on strengthening Democracy and value system across Karnataka.’

Techgoss asked him what he intends to do for the IT sector if he is elected, and he says that his focus ‘is not just on the IT sector, but all issues concerning his city’. He speaks of farmers; he himself hails from a village Bommasandra, in Bangalore Urban District and was educated in the Kannada medium government school there. He is concerned about the pollution in Bangalore. He wants to do something about the impending effect of the looming recession problem in the US that may cause more than ripples in Bangalore in a couple of years.

Ravi Krishna Reddy told techgoss that he has not been intimidated by any poll forces or dirty tricks yet. Karnataka goes to polls on three dates between Mat 10 and 22 and when the votes are counted on May 25, we will know how the public has taken to this techie-turned contestant.