BENGALURU: With elections to councils of the five city corporations under GBA unlikely in near future in view of reports of many eligible voters’ names missing during SIR and possible writ petitions in this regard in the coming days, individuals and leaders of various parties are now preparing for the assembly elections.
Ravi Krishna Reddy of Karnataka Rashtra Samithi (KRS) told TNIE that with some powerful families now controlling political parties, they don’t want any second-line leaders to emerge in the form of corporators or members of zilla and taluk panchayats to challenge them. Earlier, they blamed delimitation of constituencies and reservation for postponement of civic bodies’ elections. Now, they have SIR to delay the elections further, he said.
Agreeing with Reddy, senior Congress leader and three-time corporator from Pulakeshinagar AR Zakir said, “I have been with the party for 30 years and I hope that delimitation of assembly constituencies will give me a chance to enter the fray. I am ready to contest the assembly elections as civic body polls may get delayed if issues related to SIR are not resolved soon.”
Many BJP and Congress leaders said that if issues related to SIR are not resolved by May next and with only one more year for assembly polls, the state government may not hold elections to the councils of the five city corporations.
Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R Ashoka earlier stated that the ruling Congress will use SIR to delay elections to the civic bodies in the city, fearing defeat.
“In 2015, when elections to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Council were held, BJP bagged 100 of the 198 seats though Siddaramaiah was CM and a star campaigner for the Congress then. If elections are held now, BJP will emerge victorious,” he said. A senior leader from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said the party has been preparing for elections to the civic bodies in the city and its workers are ready to launch a campaign. But the delay in announcing elections has become a cause for concern among AAP workers. They may now have to focus on the assembly elections.
AAP would have performed well if elections to the civic bodies were held by March next, he said.
Despite the Supreme Court’s order to conduct elections to the civic bodies in Bengaluru by December 31, the state government is apparently preparing to seek further extension, said Srikanth Narasimhan of Bengaluru Navanirmana Party.
For smaller parties such as BNP, KRS and AAP, it is another missed opportunity, he said.