Hyderabad Students Launches KaunBanegaCorporator.com For Municipal Elections
Hyderabad: Ahead of the GHMC elections, which is scheduled to be held on February 2, a group of college students from Hyderabad have started a website called KaunBanegaCorporator.com to help citizens who are in dilemma about which candidate to vote for in the GHMC elections. This website not only provides information about candidates but also helps citizens judge and rate the performance of each of the previous term corporators of the GHMC (Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation election).
As a part of Startup India-stand up India initiative, 30 students of Aurora college in Hyderabad have started a website called www.kaunbanegacorporator.com. The website is a joint initiative of Entrepreneurship Development (ED) cell of Aurora College and United Federation of Residential Welfare Associations that has over 2000 registered RWAs.
The website is a forum for citizens where they can get all information about the elections and candidates in 150 wards. The initiative includes three phases – first being rating the work done by previous corporator, followed by complete details of nominated party candidates and discussion on concerned issues. The third phase will be taken up after the results.
There will also be hyperlinks on the website that will direct first-time voters to GHMC and State Election Commission sites to that they can register themselves for voting.
Prithvi, a Student of ED cell of Aurora College, said, “This website will tell people who their candidate is, what work has he done, what promises he is making for the future. It’s basically a community forum.”
“We took three weeks to implement the idea. The main aim was to enlighten civic society. Many don’t even know the name of their corporator. This will help them understand what each one has to offer,” said K Susheela, coordinator, ED cell of Aurora College, who is one of the mentors of the team consisting of B.Com and BBA students.
“This website can be a permanent one and students can take it forward, especially those who want get into the field of election analysis. This way, we want to encourage entrepreneurship.”
Not just online, the students are even conducting a door-to-door survey, where citizens are prioritising the civic issues important to their wards.
Ashok, another student of ED cell of Aurora College, said, “The survey form has many issues like sanitation, women safety, drainage, water supply. Also, we are getting a lot of feedback on other area specific issues.”
The initiative is also being promoted on social media like Facebook and Twitter so that maximum youth can connect, feel encouraged participating in the election process and voting for candidates that show sense of accountability towards welfare of the public. This is the first initiative by these students under “Start-up India Stand up India’ initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which aims at students owning companies when they leave college.