State govt. issues final notification of the 225 BBMP wards; BJP leaders to challenge it in court

Govt issues final notification of 225 wards for Bengaluru civic polls; BJP to challenge in court, alleging unscientific delimitation to benefit ruling party. 3000 objections received, 1702 considered impacting 68 wards. Court set 12-week deadline to re-do exercise; BJP MLA & BJP leader allege manipulation, to move court. UDD open to rectifications even in final notification.

The State government issued the final notification of the newly delimited 225 wards in the city’s civic administration area on Tuesday. While this is seen as a step closer to holding the much-delayed civic polls in the city, multiple leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said they have decided to challenge this notification as their objections have not been considered and suitable changes made.

They allege that the delimitation was done “unscientifically” and to “benefit the ruling party”, a charge Congress then in opposition made against the earlier delimitation draft done by the previous BJP regime, giving the city’s residents a sense of deja vu. 

This, if it finds admission in the High Court of Karnataka, will likely delay the civic polls further. Senior minister and city MLA Ramalinga Reddy, who heads a Congress party internal committee on Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) elections, has been saying that the government will hold civic polls in December 2023, in line with the High Court directions.

The court hearing multiple petitions challenging the earlier delimitation exercise and a petition seeking early polls to the civic body, had set a 12-week deadline to re-do the exercise. The State government has now complied with the deadline. 

The Urban Development Department (UDD), which issued the draft notification of the 225 wards on August 18, gave a 15-day window for the public to file objections. While the UDD received over 3000 objections. Rakesh Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, UDD, said that a total of 1702 objections, mostly related to change of ward names and continuity of ward boundaries were considered before issuing the final notification. He said those objections that were considered impacted 68 wards. 

The Congress government had withdrawn the previous final notification that was issued by the then BJP government which demarcated 245 wards. After withdrawal the new government reduced the number of wards to 225 and later issued draft notification. The new delimitation was done based on the 2011 population census and an average size of 37,000 people/ward.

Satish Reddy, BJP MLA from Bommanahalli assembly constituency, said he would challenge the final notification in the court as it was “unscientific” and was done to “benefit the ruling party”. It can be recalled that Mr. Reddy had challenged the ward delimitation exercise done by the BJP government itself.