Poll aspirants appear for “eligibility” test

In a unique initiative, a citizens’ group conducted an eligibility test for politicians aspiring to contest the ensuing polls for the Mysore City Corporation.

About 80 persons aspiring to enter the electoral fray for the polls scheduled to be held on September 28 wrote the two-hour-long eligibility test conducted by Association of Concerned and Informed Citizens of Mysore (ACICM) on Sunday.

However, the aspirants, who wrote the test, were by and large new faces to politics. Except for former Deputy Mayor Pushpavalli, no previously elected councillers appeared for the test, which focused on the civic problems facing Mysore City.

The poll aspirants, who wrote the test, welcomed the eligibility test. “I aspire to serve for the betterment of my City. It is hard to struggle against the political leaders to secure a party ticket. Hence, the eligibility test provides a good opportunity to genuine people”, an aspirant said.

But, many aspirants, who stayed away from the test, scoffed at the idea of the citizens’ group to hold an eligibility test. They not found the concept irritating, but also described it as “outrageous”. “How can they question our competence to contest the elections and serve the public”, questioned a counciller of the dissolved the civic body.

However, the test paper carried 100 marks and the candidates were asked to write about 100 words on one of the six topics concerning civic issues of Mysore. There was also a section on fill in the blanks, which sought to test the general knowledge of the candidates. The questions ranged from naming the President of India to Governor of Karnataka.

ACICM convener Lakshmana told reporters that the questions were simple and pertained to Mysore’s geography, history and the issues plaguing the City. “Our intention is to ascertain if the aspirants are duly qualified to redress the grievances of the public and whom the public can really vote”, he said.
He said ACICM would send the names of all the candidates, who appeared for the test along with their ranks to the parties from which they wished to contest.