Give us civic amenities for support we offer you: Hebbal constituency voters

Umar Sharieef | NT

Bengaluru: Adrive through the Hebbal constituency on its flyovers gives the feeling of driving for long hours due to the traffic congestion, a perennial woe that the voters of this constituency complain about.

The constituency continues to remain in the headlines for the same reason for many years despite the changes in elected representatives. Hebbal main road is one of the main junctions and bottlenecks for commuters to and from the airport. Albeit being a relatively small constituency with 2,69,609 voters, it connects the city to the roads of North Bengaluru.

There are as many as 1,37,751 male voters and 1,31,805 female voters in the constituency while 53 voters are under the others category. The constituency witnessed many road accidents due to traffic congestion. The youngest one to lose their life was a fourteen-year-old in 2022 when a BBMP lorry ran over the victim who tried to cross the Airport road at Hebbal.

Voters in this constituency allege there are repeated incidents of accidents and traffic congestion. “What are the elected representatives doing despite working for their constituencies? We are scared for our lives as every time we step out to work we face huge traffic congestion and chances of being hit by speeding vehicles which try not to get stuck in the traffic.

No work did the elected representative do to stop the menace”, said Ramya, a resident of Hebbal and an IT professional who works at Manyata. While many residents allege traffic congestion to be the top problem in the constituency, a few also demand a supply of Cauvery water supply.

“Including Hebbal the whole city is reeling under heavy traffic congestion, given the increase in number of vehicles. But, there are not enough public transport facilities in Hebbal, and the roads here are badly managed after ages”, Ashrita, a resident of Manorayanapalya said. We also need Cauvery water supply, she added.

Byrathi Suresh who contested on Congress ticket won the 2018 election with 74,453 votes against the BJP’s Dr YA Narayanasamy who got 53,313 votes. While the Congress looks to retain the seat with the same candidate, the BJP fielded Katta Jagadish, assuming a tough fight in this election. The JD(S) has given the ticket to Syed Mohid Altaf