BENGALURU:The High Court on Friday gave the government six months to conduct the BBMP elections.
It set aside a single-bench order that had ordered the state government and the state Election Commission to complete the election process by May 30.
The court said the process could now be completed within six months from April 18, the date the dissolution was notified.
The verdict comes as a breather for the state government, which has been desperately trying to trifurcate the BBMP and postpone the elections. However, the BJP said it would approach the Supreme Court against the judgment.
A Bill passed in the Assembly, where the Congress is in a majority, is stuck in the Legislative Council. The combined opposition of the BJP and the JD(S) can outvote the Congress in the Council.
On Friday, a division bench of Chief Justice D H Waghela and Justice Ram Mohan Reddy pronounced the 25-page judgment while allowing an appeal filed by the chief secretary and the Urban Development Department against the single-bench order of March 30.
Analysing the provisions of Article 243 (U) of the Constitution, the bench said it was clear that every municipality should continue for five years from the date of its first meeting, unless dissolved earlier.
Clause (3) of the Article also sets a time limit for the completion of elections to constitute a municipality.
“In the facts of the present case, as noted earlier, the term and duration of BBMP constituted by the earlier election was to expire on April 22, 2015, and till the decision impugned in the appeals, the municipal corporation was not dissolved,” the bench said.
The judges quoted the single-bench observation that the government took only “half-hearted and delayed measures” to hold elections on time.
Relief for Government, HC Sets Aside May 30 BBMP Poll Deadline
“The election programme was not declared even while the appeals were being heard. However, during the hearing of the appeals, the government order dated April 18, 2015, was notified to dissolve the BBMP with immediate effect in exercise of the powers ... under Section 99 of the KMC Act,” the bench said. That admitted fact clearly took the case out from the ambit of Sub-clause (1) of Article 243(U). The time limit set down by Clause (3)(a) of Article 243(U) then came into play, the court said. In such circumstances the only course open to the Election Commission was to complete the elections to reconstitute BBMP.
“In other words, even under the changed circumstances, the election was required to be held and completed before the expiry of six months from the date of notification dated April 18, 2015,” the bench said.
The court further said such a time limit was expressly prescribed in the Constitution. The period of six months cannot be changed by a judicial order or otherwise. “Having regard to the above anomaly and inconsistency in the single-bench judgment, the appeals had to be admitted,” the bench said.
The division bench refused to stay its order for seven days, as sought by the counsel for the government.
BJP Position
The principal Opposition party will petition the Supreme Court seeking directions to the state government to hold the BBMP polls immediately.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, state BJP president Prahlad Joshi said the Siddaramaiah government had introduced a draft law to trifurcate the BBMP with the sole objective of postponing the elections.
“Any move to postpone the election is a violation of the 74th amendment of Constitution. We will discuss the High Court order with legal experts and party leaders and file a petition in the Supreme Court,” Joshi said.
He compared the attempt to divide Bengaluru to what had happened in 1947. “The Congress, which divided the country with serious consequences, is now out to divide Bengaluru. We will oppose it with all our might,” he said.