The Congress government in Karnataka is now keen on holding elections for the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Council that have been delayed for three years. After a thumping victory in the assembly elections last month, the new Siddaramaiah-led government reviewing the delimitation of wards, and reconvening the BBMP restructuring committee to reimagine Bengaluru’s governance and administration, experts said that major hurdles are yet to be cleared.
Transport minister Ramalinga Reddy, who heads the BBMP elections preparatory committee, said on Tuesday that the Congress is looking to conduct the much-delayed elections to the existing 243 wards, by November. “Everyone wants to hold the elections soon. But there were errors in the delimitation exercise. We discussed the path ahead. We can’t hold elections for just 198 wards because the new law (BBMP Act) has come into force for the 243 wards. Everyone wants to hold the elections soon, once the monsoon ends, by November,” Reddy said.

The municipal body has been without an elected council since September, 2020 and the last BBMP polls were held in November 2015. The previous Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government had delayed holding the BBMP polls, first due to COVID-19, and then citing delimitation of wards and political reservation for OBCs.
The Congress, which was then the principal opposition party in the state, had accused the BJP of misusing its powers in the BBMP delimitation process and ward-wise reservation to help it politically and not for the welfare of the city or social justice.HT reached out to BJP for a response but couldn’t get an immediate reaction.

After assuming power in state, the Congress is now upbeat on holding the elections to the civic agency. A committee has been formed to discuss holding the polls. The BJP, which defied the statewide Congress wave, is also hopeful of retaining its hold on the cash-rich Council. The BJP won 16 of the 28 Assembly seats up for grabs in the city in the assembly elections last month, while the Congress won 12 and the JD(S) could not retain even the two seats it won in 2018.
“We welcome the state government’s move to conduct the BBMP election…BJP has a strong hold in Bengaluru irrespective of anti-incumbency and other factors. We look forward to facing the elections. We are ready at any given time,” former minister CN Ashwath Narayan said.

Experts however, said that while the review of the delimitation exercise by the previous BJP government is necessary, the process might further delay the BBMP elections. The state government has also reconvened the BBMP restructuring Committee, which the previous Congress regime had formed, which might also put the BBMP polls into a limbo. “I don’t think immediate election is on the cards. They are also trying to restructure the BBMP and amend the BBMP Act. All these point to the fact that the BBMP elections will be delayed,” Civic activist Sandeep Anirudhan, said.

“The ward delimitation is also not based on present day statistics. They have used the old census (2011). The population has now doubled or tripled. The wards are also not scientific. The repeat of delimitation is very essential. If they can fastrack the process, do a proper delimitation, that’s good. Also, it’s important that an impartial body like the Election Commission (EC) carry out the delimitation process,” Anirudhan added. The committee, led by former chief secretary BS Patil, with former civic commissioner Siddaiah and urbanist V Ravichandar as its members, had recommended splitting the BBMP into multiple corporations. This time around, the three-member committee is expected to focus on reimagining Bengaluru’s governance and administration covering the BBMP and all other parastatal agencies.“The ward delimitation is also not based on present day statistics. They have used the old census (2011). The population has now doubled or tripled. The wards are also not scientific. The repeat of delimitation is very essential. If they can fastrack the process, do a proper delimitation, that’s good. Also, it’s important that an impartial body like the Election Commission (EC) carry out the delimitation process,” Anirudhan added.
“Our committee is looking at the longer term sustainable solutions for Bengaluru. Our focus is, if Bengaluru has to be strengthened, its citizens should be provided with better services, what is the best governance and arrangement to achieve that? Our recommendation is a multi-corporation setup because one BBMP is not viable,” Ravichandar said.

The delay in holding the polls has resulted in the city falling under the control of MLAs rather than local governance by city councilors. For residents of Bengaluru, the lack of civic governance has trickled down to their day-to-day affairs with flooding, pothole menace, encroachments, water issues rampant corruption. Bengaluru needs corporators, so that the day-to-day civic issues are addressed and true decentralisation could be achieved, another citizen pointed out.