BENGALURU: BBMP councillors on Wednesday passed a resolution urging the government to extend their term till the Palike election notification is issued.
Kacharakanahalli councillor Padmanabha Reddy said the term of the current councillors will end this April and urged the government to conduct the election on time. It is likely that the election will be postponed, he said and added that a committee constituted for the division of the BBMP is delaying the submission of the report.
Reddy said that in 1988, the councillors’ term was extended by four months because there was a delay in polls. When Veerappa Moily was the chief minister (1992-94), he had extended the tenure of the zilla panchayat members by at least a year, Reddy said and urged the chief minister, MLAs and MPs to consider doing the same.
Opposition leader Manjunath Reddy and JD(S) leader R Prakash also said the term should be extended.Some BJP councillors were of the opinion that dividing the BBMP is not a good idea.
Former deputy mayor S Harish pointed out that 110 villages and many city municipal corporations merged to form the BBMP in 2007 on the recommendation of a committee. Now, another committee has been formed to divide it. “With 198 wards, the BBMP is about to complete one term (the elections were held in 2010). It is still early to say that the administration is not good. There is no need for a division,” he said.
Siddapura councillor Uday Shankar said the government will conduct the election on time and will issue a notification 45 days prior to the polls.
Congress members objected to the extension. Jayamahal councillor M K Gunashekar said as per the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, the term of the councillors is five years and an extension cannot be given.