Voting in Velachery

Urur Kuppam, Olcott Kuppam, Save Chennai Beaches Campaign Kalakshetra Colony Welfare Association, Radhakrishna Nagar
Residents Association, and Valmiki Nagar Residents Welfare Association invited all MLA candidates to address voters
regarding their proposals for the constituency. The meeting set aside 7 minutes to each candidate to present his/her schemes.

I went for the meeting. There were only three candidates who showed up. The PMK's M Jayaraman, the Makkal Sakthi candidate, Senthil Kumar and independent Sharath Babu.

Senthil Kumar: Was the only candidate whom I felt like voting for...the makkal sakthi party seems to be working for the future...it is part of the national party Lok Satta, and looks like each time they are fielding increasing candidates. menthol Kumar lives in the constituency, seems to understand the way the govt works, and is a strong RTI activist I think.

I am inclined towards him more than Sharat Babu. Babu is milking his humble upbringing and his stellar education as credentials, still. While he has done very well for himself, for me to elect him, I need to see some proof of what he has done in these last few years. Besides mentioning that he has visited educational institutions and inspired students, he did not mention anything else. Also, he is an Independent, and I see that as a weakness in the current scenario.

Given the need to have a change of government, there is no way that I am going to vote for the dmk-combine, so what about the bjp candidate and bsp and aiadmk? Well, the first two did not show up and the last one came when almost everyone had left. I hear he vowed to do whatever his Amma decided!!

I think as a voter I need to encourage better quality of candidates to come forth and stand for elections. Senthil Kumar seems to represent one such...he boldly called himself a politician. He also said that even if he did not win, he would still be available to constituency members in their fight to get good governance. I liked the sound of him, and the profile of the people who are helping his campaign.