It was once known as a safe place, a pensioner's paradise. But today, Bengaluru is among the top five Indian cities, when it comes to crime.

The 5th of September 2017 was a wakeup call for Bengaluru, as unidentified assailants shot journalist Gauri Lankesh to death, at her own doorstep.

While that raised questions over women's safety, the conversation soon changed.

Incidents like the thirteen attacks on policemen in just one week in January, the son of a Bengaluru MLA attacking people in a pub, the stabbing of the Karnatalka Lokayukta in his own office and a visible rise in abductions have turned the conversation to an overall uptick in violent crimes in the city, and a breakdown in the law and order machinery.

"One of the greatest issue facing Bangalore is the issue of safety, especially of women safety , we need to guarantee that Bangalore is going to be a city that prioritizes safety , our government and the police need to reassure us and reassure us all the time especially women that is safe to go out and that they are going to be protected," says Prasad Bidappa, Fashion Designer & Choreographer.

"I think every party needs to focus on safety as one of its very strong objectives in its manifesto. I really believe yes, safety is of great concern. Child and women safety is also very very important in this day and age and in general safety is of utmost importance, because we are seeing a lot of ugly incidences and lot of hostile and abusive instances that we have never seen in the past,” said Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, President of the Bangalore Political Action Committee (BPAC), and Chairperson of Biocon.

When it comes to serious offences, the numbers are unsettling.

In the last five years, the Bengaluru Police have registered 503 cases of rape and 2508 cases of attempt to murder.

Between 2008 and 2013, it had registered 449 cases of rape, and 2055 cases of attempt to murder.

Robbery & ordinary theft cases stood at 2388 and 14,571 during 2013 - 2018, compared to 1742 and 12,745 respectively during 2008-13.

Even cases of robbery and theft have jumped sharply over the last 5 years.

This explains why Law & Order is at the top of the BJP's city-specific campaign. The party has released what it calls a chargesheet of its own, which points the finger at the Congress for the rise in lawlessness, and followed it up with a 2-week long door-to-door campaign.

Malavika, Spokesperson, BJP Karnataka said, "lokayukta is not safe in his office , he can get stabbed right in his office , you have a guy like nalapad ,who goes about beating up common citizens in the city , when rapes occur there is neither any compensation or any rehabilitation that is expected the anekal case is a glaring example of that...

so when we look at crime in Bengaluru and Karnataka at large one can see there is a laxity on the apart of the government to take crime seriously."

The Congress has countered with its own "Namma Benagluru Namma Hemmee'' campaign... meaning My Bangalore, My Pride.

Dinesh Gundu Rao, Working President, KPCC said, "Bangalore law and order has not deteriorated. Yes,there are instances that do take place and they take place in every city , but over policing has improved , we have patrol management which is very good . Our police call centre is very well . Police interaction on social media and citizens has also improved a lot so we need to make the police more citizen friendly and more accessible and also less Harassment."

Now one thing both parties agree on, is that crime in the city has to be tackled more aggressively.

In that same breath, however, the Congress has also defended its administration, saying the crime rate is not alarming given that the city's population has jumped from around 90 lakhs in 2008, to over 1.25 crores today. But whether that justification will sit well with voters, or backfire, is anybody's guess.