Lok Sabha Election 2014: Nilekani to Get Biocon Chief's Monetary Aid to Meet Poll Expenses

Nandan Nilekani, who is tipped to contest Lok Sabha election 2014 from Bangalore South seat on a Congress ticket, has received support from Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar and a ₹10 lakh donation for his election expenses. 

Shaw is heading a non-profit organisation, Bangalore Political Action Committee (BPAC), which provides monetay aid to clean and good candidates contesting elections.

"We don't provide an army of volunteers. But what we can do is give them the money to mobilise an army of volunteers," The Economic Times quoted Shaw. With the announcement of the donation to Nilekani, BPAC has sent a message to the society that it wants to send good people to parliament and legislature houses.

It is widely reported that Congress has decided to field Nilekani from Bangalore South parliamentary constituency, where he is likely to be up against the sitting MP H. N. Ananthakumar from BJP, who has won the seat five times. 

However, BJP is yet to announce its candidate to the Bangalore South parliamentary constitute.

To his credit, Nilekani himself was heading a forum called Bangalore Agenda Task Force in early 2000, which focuses on improving public delivery services in the city. He is the Chairman of the Unique Indentification Authority of India (UIDAI) and co-founder of Infosys.

Immediately after expressing an interest in politics, the 58-year-old started campaigning through personal interactions with young voters at college-level and online drive to woo the city's working class and IT professionals. He is yet to resign from his UIDAI job, equal to a cabinet ministry in the Union government. He is expected to quit the job once Congress officially announces his candidature. The party is said to have already cleared his name to contest from the Bangalore South constituency.

(Edited by Vanilla Sharma)