BENGALURU: With Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot giving his nod to the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill, which allows splitting the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) into smaller corporations, Palike elections are likely to be delayed again. The state capital has been without a council body for the last 4.5 years, and now the wait will be much longer.
Since September 2020, the BBMP, without a council, has been administered by officials under a chief commissioner and an administrator who are senior IAS officers. With no councillors, people are left with no option but to approach the ward offices or their MLAs to address their civic issues.
Ever since the council term ended in 2020, the matter of holding the BBMP polls has been in various courts, including the Supreme Court, which directed the state government to hold the elections. While the previous BJP government took time to increase the number of wards from the existing 198 wards to 243 through delimitation, the present government made it to 225 wards, delaying the elections.
The Congress government also initiated the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill, which was finally passed in both houses of the state legislature this year and was sent to the governor. Gehlot had rejected it in March this year and has now given his consent.
According to Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy, the BBMP polls will be delayed. Reddy said the state government has plenty of formalities to finish before the process of the polls can be started. “We need to start the delimitation process and decide on how many wards in each corporation. We also need to check if we can add some more pockets from the city outskirts and decide on the population in each ward. Once all these formalities are done, we need to fix reservations for each ward -- scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and women,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, several citizens’ forums are planning to approach the courts questioning the Greater Bengaluru Authority. “There are already many cases related to BBMP polls in courts. If another case is filed, the chances of conducting the polls will be delayed further,’’ said a BBMP official.