Citizen’s group Bangalore Political Action Committee (BPAC) that aims to improve governance in Bengaluru has conducted training programmes to improve the quality of aspirants to the BBMP councillors’ posts for the upcoming polls.
Under the BPAC Civic Leadership Incubator Program (B.CLIP) initiative, it has trained 355 people from various political parties who are planning to contest BBMP elections from the last eight years, and this year, they have trained 43 people.
Speaking to The Hindu, Raghavendra H.S., B.CLIP Program Lead-B.PAC, said: “In the B.CLIP initiative, we select, train, and support talented individuals who wish to transform their city by contesting municipal corporation elections. By equipping candidates with skills in public policy analysis, municipal administration, political landscape, and election campaign dynamics, the incubator project creates a pipeline of candidates that BPAC and other civil society organisations find suitable to endorse for the future elections.”
Meanwhile, Janaagraha, another Bengaluru-based non-profit trust, plans to train the councillors on their roles, responsibilities, and how to bring change in the city by closely working with residents of their wards.<SU>
Srinivas Alavilli, Head of Civic Participation in Janaagraha, said: “Once the election is over and new councillors are elected, we, along with BBMP, will come up with Councillor Leadership Programme, a training programme for councillors to help them tackle challenges faced by residents.”