High Court orders BBMP elections to be held by December

Bengaluru: The one-member bench of the High Court has given a deadline for the BBMP elections, which has become a problem for the MLAs and ministers representing the Bengaluru city. Thus, the state government is weaving a 'strategy' to postpone the election.

The High Court has ordered the State Government and the State Election Commission to hold the BBMP elections by the end of December. Satisfied with the court order, the aspirants are ready to jump into the election arena. Some have started campaigning. However, the corporation's election future still hangs in the balance.

The ball of the election controversy has fallen from the Supreme Court to the High Court. A single member bench headed by Justice Hemantha Chandan Gowder heard and disposed of the writ petitions filed by 8 persons including K Mahadeva of Ejipur, Palani Dayalan of Kammanahalli, V Srinivas of Doddabanasawadi and K Chandrasekhar of Naganathpur objecting to the discrimination in BBMP ward wise reservation.

The State Government should provide the Justice Bhaktavatsala Committee with actual figures regarding reallocation of reserves. The bench ordered that the reservation should be announced by November 30 and elections to the corporation should be held by December 31. Even as the order came out of the court, the state government looked for ways to postpone the elections. The government's intention to give 16 weeks time for rescheduling of reservation has been revealed.

BJP, Congress, JDS MLAs do not want to hold corporation elections. Everyone knows this. They are putting pressure on the government to hold corporation elections only after the assembly elections. Thus, the corporation has not held an election for two years. As a result, there is no one to listen to the voices of the people in the wards.

Govt thinking of filing an appeal

The state government is thinking of filing an appeal before the division bench, questioning the order given by the court to hold elections to the corporation by December 31. The High Court has ruled that the reservation list should be published on November 30. It is intended to file a writ petition before the Division Bench at the end of November for elections to be held as per the old reservation. It has been decided to file a writ by the public on behalf of the state government.

There are a lot of ticket aspirants in every ward of BBMP. MLAs reckon that if the election is held now, those deprived of tickets will turn against them and the Assembly elections will be adversely affected. Thus, ruling and opposition legislators are not favoured for elections. Elections should be held by December 31 as ordered by the High Court. Otherwise, the election to the corporation will not be held until the 2023 assembly elections are over. Elections are not allowed for three months before and three months after the general election. Realizing this, the state government is devising a strategy to postpone the corporation elections. A single-judge bench of the High Court had dismissed the petition challenging the ward reallocation. Challenging this, the petitioner filed an appeal in the Division Bench.