The membership of Loksatta is open. To apply for membership, use the contact form on this website and contact us.

Loksatta has many types of membership so as to be inclusive and affordable. There are Ordinary Memberships and Executive Memberships. The payment options include Monthly, Annual and Lifetime options to suit every need. The minimum starts at just Rs. 100/- per month.

Karnataka is a bicameral state, meaning that it has two houses of government - the Assembly (Vidhan Sabha – lower house) and the Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad – upper house). The LC is a permanent body, meaning it cannot be dissolved and its members have 6 year-term. Karnataka Legislative Council consists of 75 numbers, of which 1/3 retire every two years.

25 members of the LC are elected by the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, 25 are elected by local authorities, 7 are elected by the Graduates, 7 are elected by the Teachers and 11 members are nominated by the Governor of Karnataka. 

MLCs, like MLAs, are the members of state legislature. A bill has to be passed in both houses of the legislature to become a law. An MLC can also introduce a bill, except a money bill which only MLAs can introduce. If there is a confidence motion, only MLAs are allowed to vote. Most ministers in the state government are MLAs, although a few MLCs have served as ministers.

Current Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda will most probably become an MLC within next few weeks to be able to continue as a chief minister, as he is not currently an MLA.

The seven Graduates Constituencies each consist of a few districts. In elections to these constituencies, only a subset of the population is allowed to vote - residents of the constituency who hold a college degree from any recognised University in India, which they received at least three years ago. Voters must separately register as Graduate voters to be eligible to cast their votes. In 2012, three of the Graduates Constituencies will witness elections, including the Bangalore Graduates constituency. 

The Bangalore Graduates constituency includes 36 MLA constituencies, of which 28 are in the BBMP area, and the others in the rural areas around the city (Bangalore Rural and Ramanagar districts). The constituency is currently represented by Ramachandra Gowda, who was elected in 2006

Graduate Constituency Elections require a separate registration. The normal voter ID cards that are used for Assembly, Parliamentary or Ward elections will NOT be relevant for the Graduate Constituency Elections.  

Any resident of BBMP, Bangalore Urban, Bangalore Rural and Ramanagar districts who hold a graduate degree from any recognized University in India that has been awarded on or before Nov 1, 2008, are eligible to register to vote for Bangalore Graduate Constituency.

Very often, educated people feel that their opinions do not count in a general election where cash, caste and liquor seem to play a huge role. Here is an opportunity for educated voters to send a representative of their choice – a clean and competent representative who is answerable to them – to the state legislature. And at Lok Satta, this is exactly what we can offer.

One of the challenges of this election is the poor voter registration. The numbers from the last election demonstrates that most of the eligible graduates were NOT even registered to vote.

Ø  Estimated Citizens Eligible to register (As on 2006): 7,00,000 (7 lakh)

o   Actual Voters Registered : 60,000 (approx) – 8% of the total eligible!)

o   Actual Votes polled in the last Elections: 21,270

o   Votes Earned by winning candidate: 11,423 – i.e. a mere 1.6% of the eligible graduates voted for the winning candidate

Ø  Estimated Citizens Eligible to register (As on today): 15,00,000 (15 lakhs)!!!

Lok Satta’s approach for this election will include a strategy to address poor voter registration. Some efforts towards the voter registration has already been undertaken by some of the members of Lok Satta. For more details, please contact the Secretary of LSPK.