A vote against corruption or a vote to preserve one’s identity and culture? While Bengal debates broader issues that impact millions across generations, many voters are also focused on everyday problems that few seem to care about.
A road that has not been fixed for months, a clogged canal that maroons the neighbourhood every monsoon, a persisting parking problem or the lack of public transport, for example.
When candidates are canvassing for votes, one or two residents are also flagging such issues.
A voter in Baranagar said a clogged channel near his home that goes on to merge with the Bagjola canal is a problem that he wants his MLA to address.
“This is not a single-constituency problem and also not something that a councillor can address. The MLA from Baranagar can take it up with the government along with MLAs from other constituencies whose drainage also depends on the Bagjola canal,” said the Baranagar resident.
A voter in Rashbehari said she asked a group of local Trinamool leaders, who were campaigning, about a broken road near her house in Lake Gardens.
“My mother lives alone. The road was dug open for a ferrule-washing work nearly three months ago. We paid the Kolkata Municipal Corporation charges for the road restoration. Yet the work has not been done,” she said.
Transport
A resident of Kasba said the absence of adequate public transport was a big issue for her.
“There are hardly any buses after 9pm. Autorickshaws are fewer, and getting back home after a hard day’s work is very exhausting. This is something that MLAs can address because they will have access to the minister and officials who can address the situation,” said the Kasba resident.
State-run buses have disappeared from many routes. Private operators with little accountability ply mostly in the rush hours to maximise their returns. A little off the clock, and commuters are stranded or left to deal with shady operators.
“There was a time when there used to be many state-run buses like L1, 2A, 8, and 2B. These buses were popular. Some of the routes have been discontinued. Buses or routes that still exist, like S9A, are rare,” said a resident of Fern Place.
Lights
In constituencies like Bidhannagar, Ballygunge and Cossipore-Belgachhia, many voters complained about the lack of adequate illumination.
“Lights make a place safer for women. Calcutta glowed bright a few years ago, but not anymore,” a Ballygunge resident said.
Defunct streetlights are often not fixed for weeks. Many stretches of EM
Bypass, which cuts through several constituencies, are dark after sundown. The newer New Town is not better in stretches, like the road between TCS Gitanjali and Ecospace.
Water
Large pockets of south and southeast Calcutta still suffer from acute water shortage during summer. Complaints of potable water shortage have poured in from Jadavpur, Garia and Kasba during this election campaign. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is setting up a water treatment plant in Garia’s Briji, but it has yet to be commissioned.
Funds
Many voters said there was nothing wrong with flagging local problems to a candidate seeking votes for an Assembly election. Both MLAs and MPs have funds to
allocate for local area development.
There are 17 Assembly constituencies whose territories are fully or partially within the Kolkata Municipal Corporation area. The MLA local area development funds — also called the Bidhayak Elaka Unnayan Prakalpa (BEUP) — are disbursed through the KMC in the city.
“Between 2021 and 2026, each MLA received ₹3.3 crore from the state government to allocate to their constituencies for local area development. Most of the funds were allocated for road upgrades, increasing illumination of streets, improving the infrastructure of state-funded schools, construction of bus shelters, and small sewer line laying projects,” a senior KMC official said.
Shashi Panja, the sitting MLA from Shyampukur, told The Telegraph she had allocated funds to upgrade the infrastructure of many state-run schools in Shyampukur. “I have also allocated about ₹30 lakh for sewer line upgrade under a long stretch of road,” Panja said.
During campaign visits, people are asking questions about work that was actually a councillor’s, she said. “Since the councillors are also accompanying me, I am telling them to fix the issues. At times, it is tough to draw a line between the responsibility of a councillor and an MLA,” she said.
The BJP’s candidate for Bidhannagar, Sharadwat Mukhopadhyay, agreed that voters were asking about local issues, which should not ideally be the case in an Assembly election. He blamed it on the poor performance of the Trinamool councillors and legislators
“Everyone is talking about the condition of roads in Bidhannagar. The ruling party and its municipal corporation have done nothing. It is a shame that people have to talk about roads and lights in an Assembly election but they have no choice because something so basic has not been addressed yet,” Mukhopadhyay said.
Voters are also talking about broken footpaths and ever-increasing encroachments.
A Ballygunge voter said: “I was parking my car near Lake Market, but the owner of a flower stall on the footpath did not allow me. The parking attendant said the road in front of the stall was a parking area, but he was helpless. He quietly told me to park my car elsewhere.”
Horses for courses
Himadri Chatterjee, an assistant professor of political science at Calcutta University, said electors often think differently while voting for the three levels of government.
“While an MLA or an MP has a role in local area development, they should not be reduced to working on local issues only. In a three-tier voting system, the consciousness of a voter can work differently at different levels, which is why we find instances where a councillor and an MLA or an MP are from different political parties,” he said. “This happens because voters apply different reasons while voting at different
levels.”
It makes sense.
If there is a highway running through a constituency and there are problems, a councillor may not be equipped to address them. “The solution to such a problem can come from an MLA who can team up with MLAs from neighbouring constituencies to push the government, or an MP who can lobby the Centre to fix the problems,” Chatterjee said.
He also had a word of caution.
“If we confine voters’ consciousness to local issues, then higher tiers of decision-making become aristocratic, devoid of collective will and common good.”
- All 11 seats of Calcutta vote tomorrow