Nisha Singh is not a stereotypical politician looking for votes. This councillor from Ward 30 in Gurgoan has an MBA from the London Business School -- with over eight years experience in the corporate world -- with no political backing or background.
So what made this mother of two, who has an engineering degree from Mumbai University successfully contest Gurgaon's first municipal elections?
"I headed Google's Corporate Social Responsibility team. I realised that my calling was in the field of social sector, and I wanted to be in it full time. So I quit my job three years ago and got involved in teaching underprivileged children," Nishi says.
When the Gurgaon municipal elections were announced last October, Nishi says, she forwarded her name because she did not want to just sit behind and complain how funds announced under various schemes were not reaching the underprivileged.
"Most of these funds do not reach the underprivileged for some reason or the other. I wanted to make sure that the corruption in these areas was weeded out. My agenda is to make the processes more transparent, accountable and corruption-free," Nishi says.
And now that she has been elected counsellor, she intends to do exactly that. She will either use her own website (http://www.nishasingh.in), or create a new one to publish the various projects, their timelines and progresses.
When asked how much her website has helped her in garnering votes from Ward number 30, which has over 33,000 voters, including villagers, Nishi says, "I am not sure, because my ward has a lot of voters who do not have access to internet connections. But it has helped me connect with like-minded individuals."
"I can also connect to civil society members through social networking websites so that there remains a mutual flow of innovative ideas," she added.
The 35-year-old Delhi Public School, Mathura Road alumni from Delhi says that as lot of educated members of the society want to actively participate in governance.
"Through my online presence, I have been able to interact with them. When you bring transparency, when you tell the people about the developments and the progress of projects, they feel like they are a part of it and get interested. In the current scenario, the allocated funds are not used judiciously and so there is a lot of wastage. And set timelines are usually overrun," Nishi says.
Now that she has successfully been elected as the councillor, does she have higher political ambitions?
"I have just won this election and I need some time to execute the points on my manifesto. Maybe after they are implemented, I will think about the next step," she says.
