Bangalore: After delimitation, constituencies in Bangalore have thrown up an interesting mix of voter profiles. Not to mention an interesting range of candidates.
Manmohan Desai would have been pleased. Attempting to charm the voters of the newly formed Bangalore Central constituency - from the state's three major parties are candidates from three different religions - P C Mohan of the BJP, Zameer Ahmed of the JD-S and the Congress' H T Sangliana. But the competition between them is not too brotherly.
"I have done good things for every religion. I am a secular leader. I will promise you that as many Muslims vote for me, I will earn 20 per cent vote from my Hindu brothers," says JD-S candidate, Zameer Ahmed.
"I think it should not be taken as siding with Christians only. I have people from all religions who came to me for help," says Congress candidate, Sangliana.
And on the other hand, BJP candidate PC Mohan says, "I appeal to all 18.25 lakh voters and I am confident of getting votes from everybody.
Bangalore Central has a sizeable Muslim and Christian votebank, but the poor can only hope that politicians will help them - whatever their religious faith may be.
"I have been married for 13 years and I have been in this jhopdi only. Whichever caste or religion, whoever does good to us, we will vote for them," says Kannada Muniyamma, a slum-dweller in Bangalore central.