Puketāpapa Local Board election 2025: A battle between a total of 15 candidates, in a special interview with ‘Apnu Gujarat News’, the Indian origin candidate focused on key issues like rates, security and traffic
‘Apnu Gujarat News’. Auckland: A candidate has contested the Auckland Council and Local Board elections who has been a scientist for the last 20 years but has always dreamed of entering politics. We are talking about Bala Venu Beeram, an Indian-origin candidate in the Mount Roskill-Puketāpapa Local Board race. He has contested for the C&R team.
In an exclusive interview with ‘Apnu Gujarat News’, Bala said , “Just as New Zealand is a diverse country, Mount Roskill is also an area where people from different countries of the world live. This is a diverse suburb and the C&R team is constantly listening to the problems of the locals here.” “I may have been a scientist for 20 years, but I wanted to enter politics right from my school days.”
Maximum focus on R.R.R. : Rates, Rubbish and Redevelopment are the priorities
During the interview, Bala Venu Beeram highlighted his main issues. In which the RRR policy is the most focused. In this election, the focus has been on rates, rubbish and redevelopment. He said that the council is going to raise the rubbish collection once in a fortnight and his team has strongly opposed this decision. Apart from this, the increasing rates of the council and the redevelopment of the area along with the increasing monopoly of the council is also a big issue.
He stressed the need to improve security at Mount Roskill shops and said he would work to increase the number of parks and make them easier to use. He raised issues such as increasing police patrols around parks and on roads and footpaths during the campaign, and will make a submission to the council for the redevelopment of the traffic at the Denbigh Avenue intersection on Dominion Road.
Improving the facilities of community centres is also a priority for him. “We will be demanding more facilities in the library and event centre at the community centre. The facilities of the Three Kings Community Centre have been enhanced and the redevelopment of the May Road Community Centre is also underway, while we will also work on the Dominion Road Centre.” He added that efforts will also be made to ensure that storm water lines are better functioning to protect against floods.
Scientist’s ideology: Why is Bala different from others?
His experience as a teacher and scientist sets him apart from other candidates. Bala has been working as a teacher for 8 years and as a scientist for 20 years. Bala, who holds a master’s degree in chemistry, has 28 years of professional experience. He and his wife have lived in the area for decades and raised their daughter here.
For 20 years, he has been actively involved in various social initiatives, including fundraising for charities, blood drives, sporting events and tree planting. These activities have helped him build strong relationships within the Asian and wider community.
How long will the voting process last?
The voting process has begun from September 9. After this voting, which will continue till October 11, the counting of votes will be done on October 14 and the official results will be announced on October 17. For the last two months, he and his team have been campaigning door to door in the Mount Roskill-Puketāpapa area. By attending cultural programs, he has delivered his message to more than 52 thousand voters.
How many Asian candidates are there in the election?
According to Auckland Council, this is the highest number of candidates since 2013, with 477 candidates competing for 172 positions at all levels. Auckland’s 13 wards are represented by 20 ward councilors. The councilors and the mayor form the governing body of Auckland Council.
The individual parts of Auckland are governed at the community level by 21 local boards, each represented by between five and 11 members. In total, there are 149 elected board members.
According to Auckland Council, for the first time since 2016, the number of Asian candidates has exceeded that of other minority groups. Interestingly, 16 percent of the 385 candidates who responded to Auckland Council’s demographic survey claimed Asian heritage.
Of these, 46 percent claimed Indian ancestry, 39 percent Chinese, 7 percent Indo-Fijian, 3 percent Eurasian, 2 percent Malaysian, and 2 percent Laotian.
West Auckland also has a significant Indian population, with about 15 per cent of the country’s Indian population living in the local board areas of Henderson-Massey (4.5 per cent), Wau (5.2 per cent) and Puketāpapa (4.4 per cent).