Bengaluru: In a step towards BBMP polls, wards sized down to 225; govt. issues fresh notification

In the first step towards holding the long-pending elections for the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the State government notified revised ward delimitation for the urban local body on Friday. It came on the day Transport Minister and Bengaluru MLA Ramalinga Reddy announced that elections would be held in December.

Bengaluru

In the first step towards holding the long-pending elections for the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the State government notified revised ward delimitation for the urban local body on Friday. It came on the day Transport Minister and Bengaluru MLA Ramalinga Reddy announced that elections would be held in December.

Withdrawing the previous notification of 243 wards, the Urban Development Department (UDD) issued a fresh one exercising powers under the BBMP Act, 2020, reducing the number of wards to 225. The earlier delimitation was notified by the then BJP government. 

The Congress government had been opposing the delimitation process alleging that it was carved out to favour the saffron party. The BJP government had increased the number of wards from 198 to 243. In June, the High Court granted about 12 weeks’ time for the government to redo delimitation. 

Although the new notification was issued by the UDD, the department is yet publish the details of the changed ward boundaries. Sources in the BBMP said this is a clear indication that elections for the civic body that was long pending will be held soon. A senior BBMP official said the delimitation committee that was set up by the government recently has finalised the boundaries. 

Earlier in the day, Mr. Reddy had said the BBMP elections will be held in December this year. After assuming power, the Congress had formed a committee tasked to decide on conducting civic elections. This had Mr. Reddy, along with former Mayors G. Padmavathi and P.R. Ramesh, MLAs N.A. Haris and Priya Krishna, and Ministers Dinesh Gundu Rao, Krishna Byre Gowda, and Byrathi Suresh as members.

Speaking to reporters, Mr. Reddy said: “In our indoor meetings, both the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister told us that the BBMP elections will be held by December and they have told our party workers to prepare for it.”