₹813.43 crore — that is the property tax contribution from Mahadevapura in 2021-21 — the highest tax-paying zone in Bengaluru.
Despite contributing this lion’s share of property tax, residents in the constituency continue to suffer from poor infrastructure and unplanned development.
Mahadevapura is one of the 28 assembly constituencies in Bengaluru and is one of the eight assembly segments of the Bengaluru Central Parliament seat. The constituency is one of the few seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC).
In the upcoming assembly elections in the state, the constituency is of considerable significance as it houses several multinational companies, tech behemoths and residential complexes. Its wards are at least eight to ten times the size of other wards in Bengaluru, posing a big challenge for decentralised governance.
Key contestants
Mahadevapura has been a stronghold of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with Arvind Limbavali winning it for three consecutive terms since 2008. In 2018, Limbavali defeated Congress candidate AC Srinivasa by over 17,000 votes. However, this time after much suspense, the party denied a ticket to Limbavali, and his wife Manjula will now be the face of the BJP from the constituency.
Meanwhile, Congress has fielded H Nagesh, the incumbent MLA from the Mulbagal constituency who joined the party recently, to take on Limbavali’s wife. Nagesh is a former BESCOM (Bangalore Electricity Supply Company) official. He won the 2018 polls as an independent candidate from Mulbagal. He served as skill development, entrepreneurship and livelihood minister in the B S Yediyurappa-led BJP government and joined Congress in January this year.
Mounting civic issues
Residents in the constituency have complained of poor infrastructure, unplanned development, a large influx of migrants, traffic congestion, water scarcity, pollution, encroachments and garbage clearance issues.
Mahadevapura made headlines in 2022 when the silicon capital witnessed unprecedented rainfall. IT companies in the region bore the brunt of the incessant rains, with water logging in offices and traffic gridlock along the Outer Ring Road. Social media was flooded with images narrating the grim situation, of residents being ferried to safety on boats and people hopping on to tractors to get to work.
Last year, Mahadevapura also emerged as the zone with the highest level of dissatisfaction concerning civic amenities and services from the authorities, according to a Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) survey report on Bengaluru Citizens’ Perception. However, MLA Limbavali blamed the disparity in the allocation of funds for the poor infrastructure.
For residents of Mahadevapura, a large migratory population settled in the region, has resulted in mounting civic issues and unplanned development.
The constituency’s population has grown by leaps and bounds in the last two decades, adding around 1 lakh voters every five years. The total electorate currently stands at 5,724,419, with 308,859 male voters and 263,560 females.
“We have grown at a faster pace compared to the other areas in the city. Daily, 1,000-2,000 people are coming to Mahadevapura. A large chunk of Bengaluru’s population is here because most of the jobs and multinational companies,” Murali Govindarajulu, a resident and member of Whitefield Rising, a Residents Welfare Association (RWA), said.
“Simply put, there are a lot of migrant residents and unaddressed issues, very few officials and budget constraints. There is no decentralisation,” Govindarajulu said.
“In Chinese, there is a famous proverb. Heaven is high, and the emperor is far away. Similarly, for us, there are many issues, but we have to go to the headquarters which is 20 km away. We need decentralisation and smaller, manageable wards.”
