BENGALURU: The State Government on Monday issued the final gazette notification on delimitation of wards in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) limits. Accordingly, there will be 225 wards. The previous BJP government wanted to increase the number of wards from 198 to 243.
Sources in the Urban Development Department (UDD), which oversaw the delimitation exercise, said, “This indicates that the government is only a few steps away from holding elections to the BBMP Council. The term of the council ended on September 10, 2020.”
‘Delimitation unscientific’
On August 18, the department published a draft notification announcing 225 wards and had called for objections, if any, to be filed within 15 days. On September 14, the scrutiny committee held a meeting and considered various suggestions given by the people.
Department sources said based on the High Court’s directive issued in June 2023 to complete the delimitation exercise in 12 weeks, the government will now come out with a list of wards to be reserved for candidates from OBCs.
However, the delimitation exercise evoked a strong criticism from BJP leaders who termed it “unscientific”. NR Ramesh of BJP said the government had reduced the number of voters in wards where his party has a strong presence. “About 7,800 voters from Thyagarajanagar booth in Yediyur ward have been shifted to Ganesh Mandir ward. The number of voters per ward should be 37,000. But after the delimitation exercise, the number of voters in Yediyur ward has come down to 29,000,” he said. He said many residents’ welfare associations are planning to move the High Court against the “unscientific” delimitation exercise.